Finding Home
by spart1339
Summary: A defense satallite in dark space receives an emergency transmission from the Nexus, in response the new council has put together a response fleet to assist the Nexus. leading the fleet is Commander Shepard's descendent Marcus Shepard who is haunted by his sins. New technology, weapons, and ships arrive in Andromeda. Sara Ryder gets reinforcements. AU for ME:A.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is the updated version of the first chapter that I posted and I've included a explanation to whole picking up a signal in dark space from Andromeda problem.**

 **Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and EA.**

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Chapter 1

Undisclosed location

Jackson sat at his station looking at the holo screen for the past five hours, his break ended thirty minutes ago. Looking away from his screen for a moment to let his eyesight readjust, looking to his colleagues he noted that all of them were staring at their screens monitoring the systems for the Defense Network. Stretching his arms above his head before he went back to staring at the holo screen.

Jackson wondered why he even took this job; sure he was good at analyzing data but still staring at holo screen for days was not his idea of fun. _'tick-tock'_ he thought to himself as he sighed, little did he know that his day was about to get interesting.

Jackson was going through a systems check on satellite 258-CE when his screened turned red just as an alarm sounded overhead. _"Unknown Signal Detected"_ the words appeared on his screen.

"Report!" Serana who was in charge, shouted to the room as everyone went into overdrive.

"Unknown signal has been detected by satellite 258-CE," Jackson said as he worked to analyze the signal. "Where is satellite 258-CE?"Serana asked the other analysists from her perch overlooking the analysists.

"Satellite 258-CE is in sector 6, ma'am." One of the other analysists said. "Sectors report in," Serana asked

"Sector 1 clear."

"Sector 2 clear."

"Sector 3 clear."

One by one the sectors reported "clear" save for Sector 6. Serana brought up the holo keypad on her perch. "Sector 6 report?" she asked.

"The signal appears to be an…" Jackson paused as the signal became clear. "What is it?" Serana asked, worry evident in her voice. "It's an audio file ma'am," Jackson said which caused the entire room to be on edge. An audio file from dark space where the only known race to survive there are the Reapers.

"The signal is weird though," Jackson said which didn't help the tension in the room. "What do you mean weird?" Serana asked already on edge, _'could this be another Reaper attack?'_ she thought.

"The signal is on an encryption we haven't used in 600 years." Jackson said which caused Serana to be confused, _'why use a 600-year-old encryption?'_ she thought to herself. She supposed the Reapers could have copied some encryption during the war. "Can we play the message?" she asked.

Jackson played he transmission for the entire room, after the message ended the room was silent as they processed the transmission.

"As of this point we are on threat condition one. Continue to monitor all sectors." Serana told the room before she left. Making her way to the QEC room that had a direct communication to the council, she had to hope that they weren't in a session or a meeting. Finally making it to the QEC room she sealed the room behind her. Thankfully the council were available as they immediately answered.

"Report?" The asari councilor asked in a no nonsense tone.

"Ten minutes ago a satellite picked an unknown transmission from dark space." Serana answered, bringing up her omni-tool she replayed the message for the councilor. When the message was over the council remained silent for a minute before the asari councilor spoke.

"Send the transmission to us. We'll have our analysists look at it." The asari councilor said before the call ended.

Serana sent the transmission and went back to the situation room

The Citadel

The presidium bustled with life, various people of different species mingled with each other, among the crowd a man wearing an Alliance uniform wove the crowd making his way toward the Citadel Tower. Stepping into the elevator he pushed the button for the top floor and began the long wait as the elevator slowly made its way up.

"And in other news, preparations for 600th anniversary over the defeat of the Reapers continue as decorations line the Citadel in anticipation for the upcoming event." The news reported over the speakers in the elevator. "Speaking of anniversaries tomorrow marks 5 years since the end of the Terminus Wars." The man sighed as he leaned against the wall of the elevator, removing his hat and tucking it under his arm all the while listening to the news.

After 10 or 30 minutes later the doors to the elevator finally opened signaling that he made it to top floor. Exiting the elevator, the man made his way up the stairs to the council chambers, when he reached the top floor he was surprised when the council seats were empty.

' _Typical, the council summons me and when I show up they're not even here.'_ He thought to himself. Caught in his own thoughts about the council's inadequacy he didn't notice the asari standing behind him until she spoke.

"Captain Shepard?" the asari spoke, startling him.

Shepard turned around to face the asari that said his name. Her skin was a light shade of purple with blue designs that decorated her face and her crest; she wore a light grey outfit that showed her curves not that he was staring.

"Yes ma'am" Shepard said as he straightened himself to look like the military man that he was, his hat still tucked under his left arm. The asari raised a data pad and typed something down.

"Follow me, please." She said as she started to walk past him to the doors that the councilors used to enter and exit the council chambers, two council guards always stood watch. "Not until you tell me who are" Shepard said as he slowly reached for the knife he always kept on his person behind his back, if the Terminus Wars have taught him one thing it was always be prepared and vigilant of threats.

"Va'alor Mendoza, assistant to the council" Va'alor said she turned around, "Now please follow me the council is expecting you." Va'alor said as she resumed walking, "And please put away your knife, you won't need that" she said over her shoulder.

Shepard re sheathed the knife as he relaxed and followed Va'alor to the council doors that led to the councilors private offices. Va'alor stopped in front of the doors. "Captain Shepard has a meeting with the council; I'm to escort him to the meeting room." Va'alor said.

The guards looked from Va'alor to Shepard which immediately set him on edge, not that he backed down. Shepard stared right back at them, based on the armor they wore he could tell that one was turian and the other human or asari it was hard to tell since council guards never removed their helmets their faceplates tinted black so no one could see inside which made sense. Don't know their identities can't kidnap, blackmail, or extort them into killing the councilors, their armor also made them stand out in a crowd, top of the line armor manufactured by Kassa Fabrication, along with a custom paint job black and silver with red highlights in certain areas.

"Does he have authorization?" the turian asked, his voice slightly modified, another security measure. Va'alor showed him the data pad that Shepard only assumed has the necessary clearance; the turian looked at the data pad for only 30 seconds before he handed the data pad back to Va'alor. "He's clear" The turian said to his partner as he turned and entered something into the keypad behind him.

The doors parted for them and once again Va'alor took the lead as Shepard followed her down the hallway, once they passed through the doors they closed behind them. The grey walls of the corridor stretched out before them as Va'alor turned left to another corridor. _'Good thing, she's leading otherwise my ass would be lost in this place,'_ Shepard thought as he continued to follow the asari.

"Was your father human?" Shepard asked as Va'alor turned down another corridor. "Yes he was, my mother always did have a thing for humans," Va'alor spoke over her shoulder; a slight smile graced her face. "She thought I should have his last name a memento to remember him."

Corridor after corridor they went, offices passed where the occupants would stare at them, another corridor with more council guards patrolling. "Where are you taking me?" Shepard voiced his thoughts, his frustration noticeable by his tone," Va'alor looked back at him for a second before looking forward "the council private meeting room." She said as they passed another group of guards.

"Is there a reason why I get the special treatment?" Shepard asked, his frustration dying as his curiosity was now peaked. The council usually held all meetings in the main council chambers, their private meeting room is where they gathered to discuss issues in private or meet with other delegates in the galaxy. "I do not know" Va'alor spoke, "all they said is to bring you to their private meeting room, and here we are." She said as she stopped in front of two silver and grey doors with the sigil of the council on the doors, five planets with the Citadel above them along with a two hands cradling them in its palm, once again two guards stood at attention on both sides of the doors and once again Va'alor showed them the data pad, within seconds the doors parted for them.

Va'alor ushered Shepard inside, once inside Shepard got a decent look at his surroundings the room was large enough to accommodate the councilors and their aids, a large table sat in the middle of the room chairs lining the sides of it. The councilors were scattered among the room, some talking with each other while others checked their omni tools for messages and missed calls. Their attentions soon went to Va'alor when she announced her and Shepard's presence in the room.

"Excuse me councilors, Captain Shepard as requested" Va'alor said as she straightened under the gaze of the councilors. "Thank you for bringing him here Va'alor" the human councilor said, "you may go." Another councilor said. Va'alor bowed then left the room leaving Shepard at the mercy of the councilors.

"Take a seat Captain, we have much to discuss," the krogan councilor spoke as she took her seat along with the other councilors. Shepard followed suite, placing his hat on the table in front of him as he sat down.

"We'll be frank with you Captain," the human councilor said as he clasped his hands in front of him on the desk. Derek was the human councilor's name Shepard recalled from memory, "what do you know about the Andromeda Initiative?"

Of all the questions Shepard was expecting that was not one of them. "Just the basics I'm afraid" Shepard said as he looked straight ahead, "it was an ambitious plan to launch thousands of colonists to the Andromeda galaxy." The councilors looked at each other then to Shepard before speaking, "yes the plan was proposed in 2176 by Jein Garson, an eccentric human billionaire when images from a deep space satellite were taken from dark space surfaced." The salarian councilor said, "The satellite in question was geth. I don't need to tell you what the geth were interested in beyond the borders of our galaxy."

No one needed to be told, they all knew the answer. "The Reapers" Shepard spoke softly almost as if by saying the name they would return, "yes, but Miss Garson didn't know that at the time. She saw an opportunity" the salarian councilor continued, "the plan was immediately shot down by the council who saw not benefit to the plan, so Miss Garson decided to fund the project using her own money. Hiring the best engineers, shipyards, and people for what was dubbed the Andromeda Initiative." The salarian stopped for a breather and a glass of water.

Shepard was still confused as to why the council summoned him here, "that's great and all but what does this have to do with me?" Shepard asked.

"Massive ships designed to carry the colonists to Andromeda which were dubbed Arks, were constructed in privately owned shipyards purchased by Miss Garson. These Arks left our galaxy in December of 2185, three months before Commander Shepard was brought back by Cerberus, a year and half before the Reaper invasion." The salarian councilor continued, apparently Shepard's question was unheard by him, "they were originally scheduled to launch sometime in 2188, but for reasons unknown the time for the launch was pushed up. Four Arks left, the Hyperion, the Leusinia, the Natanus, and the Paarchero. The human, asari, turian, and salarian arks. While the filth, the KeelahSi'yah which is the quarian ark was delayed due to mechanical issues but still managed to depart two months before the Reapers arrival." The geth councilor spoke, its mechanical voice easy to identify.

"One hell of a coincidence don't you think Captain?" the human councilor spoke looking a Shepard, who processed the information. The Initiative pushed their launch up by three years, _'did Garson know that the Reapers were coming, is that why they launched early?'_ Shepard thought to himself.

"You think that the leaders of the Initiative knew about the Reapers arrival and said 'fuck it, this galaxy is screwed, let's find a new home in Andromeda'" Shepard said. The councilors once again looked towards each other then back to Shepard; "We believe so" one councilor spoke up, "it's apparent that Jein Garson believed Commander Shepard's warning."

Shepard couldn't believe what he was hearing thousands of their people just left them to the mercy of the Reapers, _'did the Initiative really feel that the galaxy was done for?_ ' he quietly thought to himself. He saw the combat and news footage in the museums that commemorated the Reaper war, if he was alive back then shit he would've thought that there was no hope of victory. _'All of this occurred 600 years ago, why do they need me here?'_

"Again, I ask what does this have to do with me." Shepard once again asked.

"17 hours ago one of the satellites from the Defense Network picked this up." The krogan councilor spoke as her omni tool was brought up, she typed some keys. The holo projector in the center of the table came to life as it projected the message.

"Mayday Mayday this…xus control, we ran into a…dark energy…son is dead…Ark con…ost…ny us… dead…na try…outposts…survive…help…"

"Are we able to clean this up?" Shepard asked as the message replayed in his head, _'xus control? Dark energy? Who's dead? Garson? Casualties? What?_ ' so many questions ran through Shepard's head. "No, the data is too corrupted" the geth councilor spoke, "we are extremely lucky that the message is even to play given the state it's in." The quarian councilor spoke up.

"The nature of the message is clear, the Initiative is in need of assistance," the turian councilor spoke as he rose from his chair and walked over to where Shepard was sitting, his hands clasped behind his back as he spoke. Shepard eyed the grey turian councilor like a prey would a predator ready to flee at the first sign of danger, afraid of where this conversation was headed.

"And seeing as how we received their S.O.S it falls to us to help them." The turian spoke as he neared the Captain.

' _I don't like this, I don't like this'_ Shepard repeated the phrase like a mantra in his head as the turian councilor neared him.

"This is where you come in Captain Shepard. We would like you to head up the relief fleet to assist them"

' _Fuck'_ Shepard thought.

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 **Codex**

 **Defense Network**

After the Reaper War the people of the Milky Way feared that more threats might be lurking beyond the borders of the galaxy. To quell the fears, the remaining government and military officials launched numerous satellites into dark space to observe and detect any possible threats.

These satellites were launched from various points around the galaxy to cover all angles from dark space. The satellites surround the galaxy, each satellite are linked to one another and if one goes dark for any reason beside power failure, an alarm is sent to the other satellites which is then sent to a monitoring facility placed at different points around the galaxy.

Two rows of satellites are now in dark space. The first row is the farthest from the Milky Way this doubles the detection range, while the second is closer the, this serves as a backup in case the first row is destroyed. The second row also serves as a relay for the first to transmit data back to the monitoring facility without a delay.

These satellites are equipped with hypersensitive multi-spectrum 'listening' technology that were developed to preform long range scans of dark space. These satellites form an early warning detection system. It should also be noted that each satellites is equipped with a nuclear device, only to be used as a last resort.

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 **AN: A quick thank you to Jimbo Jones for the idea of the Defense Network. Hopefully this explains how the Milky Way species are able to pick up a distress signal from Andromeda.**

 **I have a feeling that this is going to come up later but when the Initiative left for Andromeda they were using what I believe to be a frequency encryption of their time and fast forward 600 years later the encryption would have been outdated and not recognizable by the Milky Ways recognition system. This would have caused the distress signal from Andromeda to appear as an unknown signal. (in my opinion)**

 **Thank you for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N: Here is chapter 2 of F.H. this one is longer than the first. longer A.N. at the bottom. enjoy**

 **Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and Electronic Arts.**

Chapter 2

"You want me to do what!" Shepard shouted to the turian councilor, not caring about etiquette right now after what they just asked of him.

"Calm yourself, Captain and try to remember where you are" the krogan councilor spoke softly as would one to a child, "know that this is a great burden that we ask of you."

' _No shit'_ Shepard thought trying to regain his composure, it also didn't help that the turian councilor was still standing over him. "What you are asking is impossible." The moment the words left his mouth all of the councilors stared at him, making Shepard even more uncomfortable than he already was. "Why do you say that Captain?" one of the councilors said.

"The journey alone is impossible; it would be years if not more to reach the Andromeda galaxy even with the new Mrk. 12 drive core. There is also the size of the fleet which is going to be a logistical nightmare to organize. How many military or civilian ships are going and is this going to be a military or civilian op." Shepard stopped for a breather before continuing.

"Retrofitting the ships for travel across dark space is going to cost you financially. Then there is the crew who are signing up for a one-way trip, you're asking everyone of this fleet to leave behind everything that they know and everyone they love for what could be a suicide run." Shepard's voice growing louder as he continued. "Not to mention this whole plan rests on a transmission that is so scrambled we don't know even know what we're walking into. The people who sent this S.O.S. could be dead for all we know and we're just there to bury the bodies!"

The turian councilor placed a hand on Shepard's shoulder, "you are a Captain in the Alliance Navy." The turian councilor spoke in a harsh tone while he applied pressure to the wound on his shoulder that still hasn't healed from his last op, Shepard grimaced as pain radiated from his shoulder. "So act like it and show respect to your superiors Captain," the Councilor said as he let go of Shepards shoulder. "You bring up fine points Captain." The turian councilor resumed speaking as he brought up his omni-tool and typed, the holograph in the center of the table changed from the message to display a number of statistics.

"The size of the fleet is going to be quite large. 1,000 ships will be making up the bulk of the fleet," the holographic display changed to show a number of ships, "The number of military and science vessels going is being split evenly." Half of the ships turned red signaling that their military ships, the other half turned green which meant science or civilian ships.

"As for the retro fits, we'll handle that and regarding the personal we will only ask for volunteers. We won't force this on anyone." The councilor spoke just as the holo vanished, "now, before we continue Captain we need to know if you'll accept the position to lead the fleet."

Different thoughts drifted through Shepard's head as he debated whether or not to accept, he was a soldier and he'll do as he's told but the council weren't exactly ordering him to take the position. "I…need to think about it councilors. If that's alright." He told them.

"Of course Captain, know that we expect your answer within 48 hours," the salarian councilor told Shepard as he rose from his chair grabbing his hat.

"You'll have my answer soon enough councilors." Shepard told them as he saluted the councilors and made his way to the entrance of the meeting room which parted revealing Va'alor typing on her data pad.

"Follow me Captain, I'll escort you out," Va'alor told Shepard leading him back the way they came.

Essex Vakarian, the turian councilor looked at the door that Shepard left through and looked back to his fellow councilors. "Are we sure we want him to lead the fleet? He was borderline insubordinate to us, are we sure that's who we want representing us in Andromeda?" he asked his colleagues. The holo projector in the center of the table came to life projecting the image of Captain Marcus Shepard along with his service record.

"He may be rash and needs to learn to keep his emotions in check but he is exactly who we want representing us," Urdnot Mordin, the krogan councilor said as she looked at the image of Shepard, "Enlisted in the Alliance Navy when he turned eighteen along with his sister Helena Shepard, carrying on the Shepard tradition of serving in the military. During his training at Arcturus, Shepard expressed concern that he and his sister were getting favoritism from the instructors."

"Was he right in that regard? That he and his sister were getting favoritism?" The asari councilor, Zela Val'tr asked just when the holo image flickered and died.

"He is right in that regard councilor." A heavily modulated voice spoke through the speakers built into the table. The holo projector came back to life bathing the room in red light, a red spectrum floated in the middle of the room. "All of Commander Shepards children have been treated with favoritism within the Alliance military. A trend that continued until Marcus Shepard and his sister enlisted."

"While his service record is exemplary, I fail to see how he is qualified to lead the relief fleet." Essex asked the Shadow Broker feeling slightly stupid talking to a spectrum.

"Marcus Shepard has proven his ability to lead people, his service in the Terminus Wars and the testimonies from his teammates are proof enough." The Broker said.

"I'm not denying that the Captain has a way with people but in this case we need someone with experience in leading a fleet. Shepard only has experience in captaining the Normandy." Essex spoke knowing that at least some of the councilors had to agree with him, it's not that he hated Shepard but for an operation like this he just felt more comfortable having someone with more experience taking the command position.

"Feel free to select someone else that's your decision but consider all the options before you decide. Do we want a person who blindly follows orders and does what their told, or do we want someone who can adapt to any situation, be it combat or political to represent us to the Initiative?" The Broker said as the transmission cut off along with the red spectrum, in its place was Shepards photo and file. The council sat in silence thinking over the Shadow Brokers words, while what Essex said is true about needing someone with more experience to lead the fleet they couldn't help but read Shepards file in silence.

Some of his achievements are impressive, climbed the ranks through sheer determination while dealing with prejudice because he was a biotic, stepped on some toes climbing through the ranks of the Alliance, qualified for the elite N8 program and graduated from the program while others broke.

Psychological profile states that due to his last name he feels like he has to work twice as hard to "live up to the Shepard name," not afraid to speak his mind especially to his superiors, this caused him to be demoted from Lt. Commander to Lieutenant. Worked his way back up to Lt. Commander.

Very loyal to those under his command, carries out his orders even if he disagrees with them his reasoning being "I'm a soldier, I do what I'm told doesn't mean I have to like it." Promoted to Captain for his role in eliminating Aria T' Loak and her second in command bringing a swift end to the Terminus Wars.

His attitude towards his superiors seems to have worsened after "Operation Queen Killer". All in all, an excellent soldier who has a tendency to speak his mind to his superiors while at the same time following orders, looks out for those under his command, able to make snap decisions in the field and on the fly, also a natural leader based off the testimonies from his squad mates and Alliance Intelligence. "Marcus Shepard has proven time and time again that he can lead a team and inspire others much like his ancestor Commander Jane Shepard even though he hates being compared to her, there is no denying that Marcus Shepard is a born leader despite being a biotic" excerpt from Admiral Johnathan Beckett, Alliance Navy.

"Hmm…I have to agree with the Mordin and the Broker on this one" Zela was the first to speak earning the stares of her colleagues which would have unnerved her if she wasn't a veteran of the Reaper War.

Jor, the salarian councilor while thinking through the facts, "agreed, the captain has remarkable leadership skills. Able to lead his men through the Terminus Wars while suffering only three casualties during the war." Jor folded his hands on the table in front him, looking at his colleagues. "He will be able to keep the civilians and scientists alive should problems arise.

"Regardless of how we feel about Shepard, the decision has been made. Unless he turns down the offer we stick to the original plan." Derek spoke as he placed his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his knuckles.

"What about his sister Helena?" Essex asked as he took a seat.

"She's dead."

Marcus stepped into the elevator, pushing the button for the ground level. The long ride back to the presidium gave him the time to reorganize his thoughts, _'oh shit what do I do, what do I do'_ the thoughts plagued him all the way down to the presidium. Upon exiting the elevator Shepard decided that he needed to clear his head, he needed a walk, putting back on his hat he headed for the one place that always calmed him.

The cool air of the museum greeted Marcus as he walked through the entrance, saying hi to the receptionist as he walked by. Whenever Marcus needed to clear his head be it from a stressful mission or just life he would always come to the 'History of the Reaper War' section looking at the displays, listen to the audio logs, and watch the footage from 600 years ago of the Reapers. It helped remind that no matter how shitty things got for him things were always worse for other people.

"Records indicate that the Baterians were the first to be attacked by the Reapers even though the Alpha Relay was destroyed by Commander Shepard in early 2186." The info display told him as he walked to another one.

"The Reapers targeted all technological advanced species in the Milky Way but left the other less advanced species alone, supporting Commander Shepards theory that they leave less advanced species alone for them to develop before they are harvested."

"Commander Jane Shepard was the first human spectre and the first to foretell the arrival of the Reapers. Shepards warnings however were ignored while the media smeared her name by calling her crazy and delusional."

"The exact death count from the Reaper War was never conformed, historians and scholars speculate that the number of deaths is somewhere in the hundred trillion mark while others say this death count is too low. At the moment it is impossible is say how many died."

"The Crucible design was originally thought to be Prothean, evidence uncovered by Commander Shepard later proved this was not the case. The Crucible is theorized to have been originally built by the Leviathan species as a way to defeat their construct known as 'Star Child'."

"The Reaper War officially ended on May 13, 2187 at 12:59 A.M. Galactic Standard Time. When Commander Shepard fired the Crucible, the resulting energy blast "killed" the Reapers and their ground forces. The directed energy blast would also target the Mass Relay Network, destroying the relays and the citadel."

One by one Marcus listened to the info displays until he reached the last one, the one he always paid the most attention too.

"Commander Jane Shepard married Major Kaidan Alenko two years after the Reapers defeat and would later give birth to their two daughters Hannah and Ashley Shepard. Jane Shepard retired from the Alliance Navy in 2191, she would live with her husband in Vancouver until their deaths in 2238."

Now some might think that listening to an info display talk about your long dead grandmother is weird and you're right but to Marcus it helped put things into perspective for him. It reminded him that he had to live up to the Shepard name, to do the impossible.

Exiting the museum, Marcus picked a random direction and began walking thinking back to the councils offer. Now that his head was clear he could think more clearly, _'why do they want me to lead the fleet? Sure I have experience in command situations but there are at least other people, higher ranked people with more experience than me.'_ Marcus was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the person in front of the him until he bumped into them, knocking them both to the ground.

"I'm so sorry." Marcus told person as he helped them up. The figure clearly suggested a woman, getting a better look Marcus saw that she was a quarian. Her brown hair frazzled from the fall, she had a fair complexion, her eyes were a dark purple with light blue at the iris. The design on her forehead was in the shape of an omega symbol with the ends going around the eyes that end at the cheek, this meant that she was married.

"No, it was my fault I was caught up in admiring the statue," her voice slightly flanged. Spotting her hood on the ground Marcus picked it up and handed it back to her. "Thank you, I must go now," the quarian told him as she placed the hood back over her head and walked off disappearing into the crowd.

It wasn't hard to spot the statue that had captivated the quarian it was another memorial dedicated to the Reaper War, Commander Shepard and her crew. Commander Shepard stood in the center with her crew beside her. Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah, Wrex, Liara T'Soni, Kaidan Alenko, even Joker was there along with the rest of the crew.

"Dedicated to Commander Shepard and her crew who stood together against the darkness and emerged victorious." The inscription at the base of the statue said. _'Another reminder of the Shepard legacy'_ Marcus thought sourly, sometimes he really hated being a Shepard.

Marcus's omni-tool beeped shaking him from his thoughts. His omni-tool came to life as he brought his left arm up, one new message in his inbox.

' _Hey kid_

 _Mordin told me about the position they offered you. I'm in Infinity. Come see me._

 _Wrex.'_

Marcus smiled as he read the message, he hadn't seen Wrex in almost fifteen years. _'Wonder what the old man has to say?'_ Marcus closed his omni-tool after he reading the message now making his way towards the skycar terminal to call a cab. The ride to the wards were quiet for the most part, it didn't take long to reach the wards, after paying the fee Marcus left the cab and started to make his way towards Infinity.

Infinity, a bar that's popular with off duty C-Sec officers. Not exactly Shepards scene, the flashing neon lights and loud music combined was enough to give him a massive headache bordering on a migraine. It wasn't hard to spot Wrex amidst the crowd, he was sitting towards the back nursing a bottle of ryncol while observing the crowd. Playing diplomat for his people didn't diminish his skills as a soldier, Wrex wouldn't have survived 600 years if his skill were lacking. Marcus made his way toward Wrex, weaving through the crowd of drunken C-Sec officers.

Wrex immediately spotted the young Shepard as soon as he walked into Infinity. His Alliance uniform also made him stand out from the regulars in the bar. The young Shepard looked around trying to spot him, eventually he spotted him and began walking in his direction. It's amazing how fifteen years can change a human, the last time Wrex saw the whelp he was just a kid playing with his sister, asking him to tell stories, and now he's a man, a soldier and a leader. 'Just like Jane," Wrex thought as took a swig of ryncol, the purple liquid burning his throat, "Weak shit" Wrex mumbled.

Marcus finally reached Wrex's table just as the old krogan took a drink of ryncol and mumbled something about being 'weak?', taking a seat across from Wrex.

"Cute hat" Wrex said, earning a chuckle from Marcus as he removed his hat and placed it on the table next to him.

"Itches like a motherfucker" Marcus said, running a hand through his short auburn hair trying to emphasize the point which caused Wrex to burst out laughing.

"Jane once said the same thing," Wrex said in between laughs, his got that far away look in his eyes which meant that he was about to tell a tale. "It was after Sovereign got his ass kicked. Jane had to give a speech after Anderson was sworn in as councilor," Wrex told him after he was done laughing. "Afterwards she threw her hat into the trash saying that they 'itch like hell.'" Marcus laughed at the story reminding him of when he was a kid and Wrex would tell him stories of past exploits.

Marcus got a better look at Wrex when he was done laughing. The old krogan hadn't changed much, he had additional scars on his face from what he could see in the low light and the top part of his crest was broken off, giving Wrex a more menacing look but he was still the big ol' softie Marcus knew from his childhood. A softie that could turn your head into a pulpy mess with his shotgun and makes other krogans look weak but a softie when you got to know him.

"So how much did Mordin tell you?" Marcus asked leaning into his seat. Wrex took another drink before speaking.

"Just the basics. An S.O.S. from Andromeda, a relief fleet, and that they want you to lead it." Wrex told him when an asari came by with a tray of drinks.

"Wrex when are going to pay your tab?" the asari asked Wrex as she set the drinks down.

"Talk to Mordin, she'll cover it." Wrex told the asari as he reached for a new bottle of ryncol.

"I did and she said that she'll cover it when you put down your shotgun for good," the asari told him as she left the two alone. Wrex just laughed.

"She knows that when I do, it'll be when I'm dead." Wrex chuckled as he took another drink. Marcus just smiled as he reached for his own, he didn't know what he was drinking other than that is tasted like cheap alcohol and slightly burned his throat as he downed the entire drink in one sitting. "Damn, you must have needed that."

"I did" Marcus told Wrex as he looked at the empty glass and poured himself another drink. "I don't know what to do Wrex. Should I take the offer?" Marcus looked at Wrex as he spoke, hoping for some advice that the old krogan seemed to have in abundance. Wrex looked at the Marcus for a minute before he took another drink.

"Yeah you should, kid" Wrex told Marcus, earning him a look that Wrex had seen many times from his children especially from his firstborn daughter Mordin when he told every male in his clan that unless they wanted to lose their quads very slowly and painfully they would not court his daughter.

"Why should I?" Marcus couldn't believe what Wrex just told him. He was expecting Wrex to tell him not to take the job for whatever reasons and instead he tells him to take the position to lead the fleet, _'why?'_ he thought to himself.

"You're wasting away here," Wrex said, leaning forward causing the chair to creak under his weight, it also didn't help that he was wearing full combat armor. "Don't think that just because I haven't seen you in fifteen years I haven't noticed." Marcus just listened as Wrex continued. "Stop trying to outdo Jane kid."

Whatever Marcus was about to say died instantly the moment he heard those words. "What…what do mean?" Wrex just sighed.

"I have lived for long time kid. I have seen all of Shepards children try to one up her, don't get me wrong they've all done incredible things on their own but in the end it didn't matter. Jane's exploits casted a shadow on all of her children, that they couldn't emerge from." Wrex told Marcus, "I've seen it many times and I see with you even now. But you're different from the rest."

"How so?" Marcus asked, taking another sip from his drink.

"You're different because you and your sister didn't take handouts like others did before you." Marcus looked at his hat bearing his Captains rank. "You told your instructors to not go easy on you because of your name. That alone makes you alright."

"Which makes me wonder why they even picked me to lead the fleet. Is it because of my achievements that I earned on my own, or is it because I share the same last name as the great Commander Shepard!" Marcus's was shouting now, drawing the attention of nearby patrons. Wrex waited patiently until Marcus calmed down before he spoke again.

"That's why you should take the offer." Wrex told him earning him a confused look from Marcus. "Here, everybody knows the name Shepard and what she did, but over there in Andromeda they don't know her or the things that she did." Marcus took another drink, remaining quiet as he listened to Wrex. "You'd have a fresh start. Away from all this shit, away from all the statues, and reminders of what Jane did all those years ago."

Marcus just sat there thinking over what Wrex said. "I…uh… need to get some sleep." Marcus told Wrex trying to keep the tears in check.

"Sure kid. Think about what I said though." Wrex said as went back to his ryncol. Marcus rose from his chair making to grab his hat from the table and left Infinite, the artificial lights starting to dim signaling nightfall. Making his way back to skycar terminal to get a cab home.

Once again inside the skycar, Marcus undid the top two buttons to his uniform and leaned his head against the glass. The coolness of the glass helped chased away the headache he felt coming on from the alcohol, thankfully the apartment complex where he stays at came into view. After paying the bill, Marcus went immediately to his apartment on the fifth floor making sure to say high to the receptionist and to the security guard on duty. Thankfully the elevators in the apartment building were faster than the ones in the Citadel Tower, exiting the elevator once it reached his floor.

Marcus went straight to his apartment at the end of the hallway and standing in his way was a couple making out, making sure to announce his presence as he passed by them to get them to take their act inside their room which it did. Waving his omni-tool in front of his door which transferred the necessary codes required to unlock it.

Stepping into his apartment that he called home for the past six years, he sighed as everything from today weighed him down. Making sure to turn on the overhead lights so he doesn't bump into anything, he took off his jacket which he draped over a chair in the dining room along with his hat, making his way towards his bedroom to take off his shoes and socks and grabbing his night clothes before stepping into the adjacent bathroom for a quick shower.

The hot water helped ease the tension from his muscles, the water also helped his shoulder wound that the turian councilor put pressure on. Marcus placed his hands on the wall beneath the shower head letting the water hit his back. Marcus thought back to the conversation he had with Wrex, everything he said to him was true. Marcus lost count of how many times he was given a free pass because his last name is Shepard, in basic the instructors took it easy on him and his sister even though they were both biotics, he still remembers pissing off the instructors just to be treated like the other recruits. _'Come to think of it that's where I started mouthing off to my superiors'_ he thought has he cracked his neck.

In fact, the only way for him to get treated fairly within the Navy was to piss off his superiors that they forgot he was a Shepard, it was the only way to get his CO's to treat him like a soldier and not coddle him.

All those accommodations in his file he earned those through skill and determination along with his rank. Those weren't given to him because of his last name, he made it very clear when he enlisted that he didn't want any freebies just because he's a Shepard.

Marcus's biotics flared in response to his anger coating his body in blue sheen, the change in the mass effect field around Marcus caused the water droplets to float upwards to the ceiling where they remained. He was so caught up anger that he didn't notice right away that his biotics were flaring up due to his anger, but once he did he knew that he needed to calm down or he would break the shower…again. He clenched his hands into fists as he took deep calming breaths allowing him regain control of his biotics which caused the buildup of water on the ceiling to drop on him. Chuckling at his mishap, he turned off the shower and stepped out.

After drying himself and dressing himself in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt after which he commenced his nightly ritual of brushing his teeth. Cleaning the steam from the bathroom mirror he saw that he needed to shave, his five o' clock shadow was on the verge of becoming more than a shadow. Marcus wouldn't call himself a catch, he was just an average guy with an athletic build not overly muscled like some of the marines served with, he had short auburn hair, dark blue eyes, and he also had a scar over his right eye that he earned in the Terminus Wars. The scar started just above his eyebrow and went to the middle of his cheek, curtesy of an omni-blade from Aria T' loak's second in command.

Now that he showered and did his nightly ritual, he was all set and ready for bed. Pulling back the sheets he laid down, pulling the sheets over him and closed his eyes falling asleep. The nightmares came as they usually did when he slept.

 _The smell of rotting corpses was think in the air, bodies lined the street lying where they fell. Marcus walked through the streets of a ruined city, stepping over corpses looking at their faces as he passed them. The sounds of gunfire and explosions can be heard in the distance, the weight of the gun in his hand pulling him down with each step he took. The dream changed, Marcus now found himself in an empty field only the field wasn't empty, bodies of different species littered the field thrown over each other and in the center, a clearing free of bodies where a lone figure was on its knees, holding a something in its arms._

 _The profile of the figure suggested a man, the shoulders moved up and down almost like the man was crying over something but Marcus couldn't tell what. Taking a risk, he started to walk towards the man as he got closer the sounds of crying could be heard. When Marcus got within arm's reach he reached out to try and comfort the crying man. When Marcus's hand almost touched his shoulder the crying man spun around so fast that he grabbed Marcus's hand before he could pull back._

Marcus woke from his nightmare when his alarm went off, swinging his legs off the edge of the bed as he got up. Marcus sat there for while trying to clear the nightmare from his mind, for five years the dreams have plagued him, he never talked about it to anyone.

The sounds of the coffee maker going in the kitchen drew him out of his thoughts. Grabbing the pistol, he always kept on his nightstand he made his way down the hallway slowly pausing at the entrance to the kitchen, he checked the pistol making sure the safety is off before entered the kitchen. There was an asari standing in his kitchen, with her back facing him looking in a cupboard.

"Hands in the air!" Marcus ordered, making the asari jump slightly as she put her hands up. "Keep your hands up and turn around slowly," the asari turned around slowly showing Marcus her face which caused him to lower his gun.

"Liara?"

* * *

 **Codex**

 **Quarian immune systems**

After 600 years the quarians immune systems are now on par with other species, the first time a quarian was seen without their mask was a historic day in the galaxy. Quarian skin tones are fairly consistent across the species, their facial structure is often compared to that of a human or asari with exceptions, such as they have a flat nose, their eyelids are vertical so when they blink, they blink vertically and slowly, they also have larger iris than humans. Quarian hair is also different from human hair such as they are so soft that humans claim quarians have hair like silk and water as it flows through their hands.

Quarian females have a design on their forehead that indicates whether they are single, married, or with child. It is also important to note that quarians still wear hoods, a tradition carried over from when they still wore enviro suits.

 **Biotic discrimination**

Treatment of human biotics have improved over the years, however fear and suspicion continues to exist in the military where biotics are often treated poorly during basic either by their fellow recruits or the instructors.

 **A.N.**

 **Cliffhangers don't you just hate them? Also Wrex is back! I hope that I did justice to his character. I tried really hard to think about how Wrex would talk or act and things of that nature when writing him. I don't think we ever got an exact age for Wrex in the games or maybe we did and I just wasn't paying attention, so yeah Wrex is alive and back. Also he's too much of an iconic character to not bring back.**

 **And on another note an unmasked quarian! The look of the quarian I actually got from the quarian section in 'Art of Mass Effect' which I recommend to look at if you want references. Also the picture of Tali in ME3 if you romanced her, Shepard actually gets a photo of Tali without her mask and her is blowing in her face so you can't really see the face that well.**

 **I really wanted to convey Marcus's thoughts/feelings on him being a Shepard in this chapter and the favoritism that comes with being the child or in this case great, great grandchild of the legendary Commander Shepard.**

 **I should also mention at this time that I've decided to go ahead and do a full story. I'm gonna try and extend the chapters for more content. The next two chapters are going to be still in the Milky Way before we go to Andromeda. If** **you guys and gals have any ideas for Reaper/Milky way hybrid tech you would like to see in the story, write it in the reviews or PM me and I'll try to work it into the story.**

 **Lastly thank you to all who have chosen to follow or fav this story. Thank you... ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry for the late update but life you know. Anyway here is chapter three. enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter three

"Liara?"

Marcus couldn't believe it; like Wrex he hadn't seen Liara in a long time. Five years to be exact, since the funeral. "What are you doing here Liara?"

"Is that any way to greet your aunt?" Liara said lowering her hands. A smile breaking free as Marcus had the decency to look ashamed for pointing a gun at her. Switching the safety on, Marcus set the pistol on the kitchen counter then proceeded to give Liara a hug that caused her laugh. "Now that's a better greeting," she chuckled as Marcus released her.

"Why are here?" Marcus asked Liara, getting a better look at her. Liara looked tired not that she'd ever admit it, even to him. "And why are you digging through the cupboards?"

"I'm here because I haven't seen you in five years." Liara told him, "and I'm looking for cups."

"Third cupboard on the left, top shelf." Marcus told her, turning to the coffee maker while Liara got some cups, after setting them on the counter next to Marcus she went into the dining room.

Liara examined the apartment as she waited for Marcus to bring the coffee. The living room held a couch, a coffee table, and a holo projector set on the far wall. The dining room had a table big enough for four people, data pads lay next to each other on the table, one of the chairs held his uniform jacket along his hat on the seat. Few pictures lined the shelf that she saw most were of his family, friends, and squad mates but there was one face down. Ever curious Liara went over to the shelf to examine it, picking it up she saw that it was a photo of Marcus and his sister when they just graduated from basic at Arcturus. Marcus had his arm draped around Helena's shoulders, both smiling at the camera with an Alliance cruiser in the background.

A single tear dropped onto the image as Liara remembered that day.

 _Liara wandered through the crowds of Arcturus trying to find the Shepard siblings. After five minutes of searching she finally found them at one of the observation windows smiling and joking with each other. As she got closer to them she picked on their conversations._

" _I still can't believe you pissed off Instructor Keith an hour before graduation." Helena said to Marcus who just chuckled._

" _The guy irks me. He's irksome." Marcus said smiling to Helena, who just laughed as she leaned against the glass._

" _Liara!" Helena shouted which caused some the bystanders to look in her direction, Marcus just smiled at her antics. Liara finally reached them, giving them both a hug as tears fell from her eyes._

" _Your parents would be so proud of you both," Liara told them both as she released them. Both Marcus and Helena just smiled at the statement. "How 'bout a photo?" Liara asked them, changing the subject which seemed to work as Marcus ruffled Helena's hair, effectively undoing her bun which caused her yell at him. Liara brought up her omni-tool as Marcus draped his arm around Helena's shoulder bringing her close as they both smiled for the photo._

A cough drew Liara from her memories as she turned around to see Marcus standing next to the dining table with two cups of coffee in each hand. His eyes on the photo that Liara was still holding in her hand, "I…wasn't sure how you take your coffee." Marcus said his gaze shifted from the photo to Liara face, which caused her to visibly flinch.

"Black is fine," Liara said, setting the photo back on the shelf next to the others. Marcus held out one of the cups to her which she accepted. "Why are you really here Liara?" Marcus asked just as Liara was taking a sip which caused her to cough. Taking a seat at the table Liara gestured for Marcus to do the same which he did, taking the seat across from her.

"I know about the transmission and the councils offer," she said taking another sip of her coffee. Marcus looked at her not really surprised, she wouldn't be doing her job as the Shadow Broker if she didn't. "Wrex is right you know." This caused him to look at her surprised, _'her too?'_ he thought to himself. "You should take the position."

Marcus took a sip of his own coffee before answering. "You gonna give me the same speech about 'outdoing jane,'" he said, doing his best impersonation of Wrexwhich caused Liara to smile as she took another sip of her coffee.

"No, Wrex covered most of it," Liara said setting her coffee cup on the table. "He is right though, about 'you wasting away.'" Marcus glanced down into the coffee cup, his own muddled image staring back him, Liara took his silence as a cue to continue. "Reckless on missions, drinking, volunteering for every mission that borders on suicidal, and not to mention the nightmares," she said folding her hands on the table. Looking at Marcus confirmed everything.

Marcus exhaled slowly, losing interest in his coffee. "You think going to Andromeda might help?" he said, barely a whisper that Liara almost didn't hear it.

"I think…it might be the change you need," Liara told him, it was the truth over the years she noticed him gradually withdrawing himself from society. "Over there you could do some real good. You have a chance to escape the pressure of being the descendent of Commander Shepard." Liara said unfolding her hands, "maybe meet someone that understands you."

Marcus looked at Liara after she hinted at Christie, his former girlfriend of six months. Christie only dated him because of his last name, when it became apparent that the relationship wasn't going anywhere she dumped him faster than a ship going into FTL. Marcus was damaged from the war and from his experience women don't like damaged goods.

"So…are those your two reasons for me going." Marcus asked taking a sip of his now cold coffee.

"As you humans say 'in a crab shell,'" Liara said confidently, which caused Marcus to spit out his coffee in a coughing fit.

"Nutshell," Marcus said in between coughs. This drew Liara short as she looked at him with confusion lining her face. "'In a nut shell' is the correct saying," Marcus told her after his coughing subsided. Liara blushed at her mistake, "700 years old and you still get human idioms wrong. Been staring at monitors for too long Liara."

"True, I do need to leave the _Shadow Light_ more often but I seldom have an excuse too." Liara told him, honestly she rarely left the ship, sometimes she really hated being the Shadow Broker. Without her there to reign in her agents and remind them who is in control any of her operatives could replace her as the Broker, someone who doesn't have her restraint or empathy. "Take the position."

Liara once again told Marcus as she rose from her seat, Marcus followed suite and escorted her out of the door. Upon opening the door Marcus wasn't surprised to see the _Shadows_ in civilian clothes, wouldn't do any good to advertise to the entire station that the Shadow Broker was on board. Liara turned around to give Marcus a hug.

"Think about what I said," Liara whispered to him before she released him, smiling at him. "Admiral," Liara nodded slightly before exiting into the hallway, the _Shadows_ following close. Marcus looked at her retreating figure with confusion.

"It's Captain you know," Marcus told her, Liara stopped and turned around to face him once again.

"Of course, my mistake." Liara said with a slight bow before stepping into the elevator. Marcus was confused by Liara actions, _'not like her to mix up my rank and what was with that bow?'_ he contemplated as he stood in the doorway to his apartment, closing the door behind him as he made his way back into the dining room to clean up.

Grabbing both the cups he went into the kitchen to deposit them into the sink and maybe grab another one. He definitely needed it before he gave anymore thought to the council's offer, more so after Liara's visit and words of wisdom. Now armed with a fresh cup of coffee he made his way back into the dining to think about the councils offer.

Both Liara and Wrex wanted him to take the offer and both bring up great points for him to take the offer. Marcus will admit that he does get tired of being reminded of the Shepard legacy that his ancestor left behind and his need to prove that he can 'live up to the legacy'. In Andromeda he would have a fresh start, no one would expect great things from him because of his name, and he could forge his own path. Marcus looked around his apartment, he owned few things so he wouldn't leave much behind if he left.

Marcus looked at his collection of photos that he amassed over his military career, most of the people in the photos were either under his command on the Normandy, moved on, or dead. His gaze fell on the photo that Liara left propped up, the one he put face down five years ago, the photo of him and Helena. Marcus rose from his chair and went straight for the photo holding it in his hands, _'another reason to leave'_ he thought as he set the photo once again face down on the shelf. Marcus exhaled slowly as he made up his mind.

Taking a quick shower and brushing his teeth afterwards to get rid of the coffee taste and a shave. Once again in his dress blues he left the apartment making sure to grab his jacket and hat from the dining room table on his out. In less than an hour he was back in the slow elevator making its way to the top floor, Marcus occupied his time in the elevator listening to the news broadcast.

"Rumors continue to spread as the new trailer for Blasto: Resurgence has been leaked on the extranet.

"Protests continue in the streets of Omega to the new curfew laws that were announced last week. Citizens on the citadel fear that another uprising is imminent."

Marcus closed his eyes as he listened to the news. Tips on how to make your apartment look bigger, pirates targeted a turian cruiser, new clothing lines for asari, and so on. The elevator finally reached the top floor just before Marcus learned how to "drive her wild in five easy step". Marcus opened his eyes just as the elevator doors parted revealing Va'alor along with four council guards waiting.

"Welcome back, Captain," Va'alor spoke as she gestured for him to follow which Marcus did just like the last time he was here. Two of the guards led the way back to the councils private meeting room while the other two brought up the rear. The entire trip to the meeting room was pretty much the same route as the one Va'alor took when she brought Marcus to the council, in thirty minutes they were once again outside the doors to the meeting room. As before Va'alor escorted Marcus inside, announced his presence and left, sealing the room behind her.

Marcus felt strange being back in the meeting room maybe because he now knew what to expect, remembering to keep his cool during the meeting. "Councilors," he said as he stood at attention and saluted them.

"At ease Captain," Essex spoke, admiration apparent in his voice. Marcus relaxed as the councilors took their seats but Marcus remained standing, "have you decided?"

Marcus slightly squirmed as every single councilor looked in his direction. He inhaled and exhaled slowly, _'nothing ventured, nothing gained'_ his sister's favorite quote ran through his head before he answered. "I accept the position to lead the fleet."

"This is not a decision to be made lightly Captain."Zelaspoke in a tone that would rival any of the instructors at Arcturus, "So, we'll ask you again. Do you accept the position to lead a fleet to Andromeda to assist the Initiative?"

Marcus remained silent for a few seconds but to him it felt like minutes, looking at a spot on the floor gathering his thoughts. _'Nothing ventured, nothing gained'_ , looking from the floor to the councilors. "I…accept the position to lead the fleet," he repeated with conviction.

"Take a seat Captain. We have much to discuss." Zela gestured to the seat in front of Marcus which took, placing his hat on the table as the holo projector came to life displaying the Andromeda Galaxy. "From what we have been able to piece together from records, the Initiative's plan was to colonize what was named the Heleuscluster," a section of the galaxy map highlighted green. "unfortunately we haven't been able to pinpoint the origin of the transmission. That will have to be done once you reach the cluster."

"Alright, there is still the problem of getting to Andromeda though councilors." Marcus said respectfully, giving the briefing his full attention.

"We have a solution to that problem Captain," Jor said as the image of the Andromeda galaxy changed to show a Mass Relay. Marcus looked at the image confused.

"With all due respect councilors I don't think a Relay is going to be of any help." Marcus spoke, "I doubt that there is a Relay in Andromeda that just so happens to be linked to a Relay here." Marcus told the councilors, hoping that he didn't anger them.

"While you are correct Captain, this however is not a standard Relay," Jor said, which caused Marcus to take another look at the image. The Relay in the photo didn't look any different from any other Relay, although he did notice more rings in the center to contain the eezo core, but other than that he just couldn't spot the difference. Jor seemed to notice, he typed some keys into the holo keypad. Another image of a Mass Relay came up.

"This is a standard Relay," Jor clarified for Marcus. The second image overlaid over the first image, "and this is the Delta Relay." Marcus could not believe his eyes, this "Delta Relay" was twice as large as a standard Relay, _'if this is a photo, can't imagine the real thing'_ Marcus thought.

"Twice the size, power, and speed." Inbra vas' Rannoch, the quarian councilor spoke, admiration lining his voice. "The Delta Relay is the epitome of hybrid Reaper/Milky Way tech. Unlike standard Relays that require two to function, the Delta Relay is unique in that it doesn't require a sister Relay to function." Inbra continued after taking a sip of dextro tea. "The Delta Relay actually 'drops' a ship out of FTL at specific coordinates that are inputted before activating the Relay."

Marcus could not believe what he was hearing, a Relay that could transport ships anywhere in the galaxy without needing a sister Relay and was twice the size of a regular Relay. _'Why would the council build it though?'_ that one thought drifted in his mind.

"Our plan is to aim the Delta Relay at the Andromeda galaxy, more specifically the Heleus cluster." Zela now spoke up. "The speed and power of the Delta Relay will turn a 600-year journey into roughly a four to five-month journey."

Marcus once again could not believe what he was hearing, _'four to five months. Might have a real shot of helping these people,'_ but there was one problem to this whole plan that he could see. "How are we going to discharge the static build up." He wasn't an engineer but he knew that static charge builds up on the hull of ship and in the drive cores of ships traveling at FTL speeds and that it has to be vented. "We're not going to be able to vent once we're inside the FTL tunnel."

"Let us worry about that particular problem Captain." Zela spoke.

' _Comforting thought'_ , Marcus thought to himself privately. "When do we launch?" he asked. Zela looked to her colleagues then to Marcus.

"We plan to have the fleet ready to launch within a year," she said which caused Marcus to choke on his water that he was drinking. When the coughing subsided Marcus looked at Zela wondering how they would retrofit a thousand ships within a year.

Before Marcus could ask his question Va'alor entered the room. "Councilors sorry for the interruption. The representatives from the Hanar Collective are here." she told them.

"Thank you Va'alor," Zela told her as the holo image of the Delta Relay disappeared as the holo projector shut down. "Excuse us Captain. We have a prior engagement with the Hanar Collective," Zela told him as she rose from her chair. "Va'alor will give you an OSD with all the necessary information," she gestured to Va'alor who nodded. Marcus took the hint as he rose from his chair and followed Va'alor out of the room.

After Marcus left the room with Va'alor, Zela turned to Inbra. "Can the retrofits be done in time?" she asked Inbra who just sighed, rubbing his eyes before he spoke.

"It's…possible." Inbra spoke, rubbing his eyes.

"Yes or no?" Zela asked him. Inbra exhaled slowly, taking a sip of his dextro tea before answering. "Yes…but the funding and the personal needed to retrofit a thousand ships are going to be…" Inbra said before Zela cut him off.

"Worry about the retrofits. We'll handle the funding." She said looking to each of her colleagues who simply nodded. "Anything else?" she asked Inbra.

"The S.D's are going to be problematic. There is also the issue of venting the discharge." Inbra finished.

"I trust that your people and the geth will come up with a solution to the venting problem." Zela gestured to Isac, the geth councilor who just 'blinked'.

"Acknowledged, we will consult with our engineers along with the quarians." Isac spoke, the panels on the side of _his_ head opened and closed as he communicated with the geth.

"If that is all. The representatives are waiting for us." Zela spoke.

Back in front of the elevators both Marcus and Va'alor waited. Marcus was thankful that the council guards didn't follow them to the elevator. Once the elevator arrived and Marcus stepped inside, Va'alor handed him an OSD.

"The data is encrypted and has been coded to your biometrics." She told him as he stuffed the OSD inside his jacket. "Also the council is requesting that the Normandy be taken to the coordinates on the OSD."

Marcus simply nodded and said his thanks as the doors closed. Marcus sighed as he leaned against the wall waiting for the doors to open. Thankfully the long elevator ride gave Marcus time to reorganize his thoughts. _'No going back now,'_ he thought crossing his arms across his chest, the OSD pressing into his chest reminding him that he needed a S.C.I.F to view the information on it. The one installed in his quarters onboard the Normandy will work. Once the elevator released him, he made his way down to the wards to the C-Sec academy, which you had to pass through in order to get to the Alliance docks. Another elevator and an agitated officer later he was finally in the docking bay that held the ship that he called home, the Normandy SR-6.

The design of the Normandy hadn't changed much from the original but new designs were implemented over the years. The tail fins were now placed at an angle on the wings that held the engines instead of being placed on the body of the ship. The placement of the engines also changed, two are now closer to the main body of the ship while the other two were further down on the wings, the tips of the wings now extended from the second engine instead of just ending there. The fins on the nose now hold sensors for navigation and detection of enemy ships and to top it off _she's_ painted in Alliance colors.

The sleekness of the Normandy reminded Marcus of a shark swimming through the ocean, beautiful in way but dangerous at the same time. _She's_ equipped with the latest technologies and weapons and had the finest crew in Marcus's opinion serving onboard her, whether or not they would follow him to Andromeda he didn't know.

Making his way up the ramp to the airlock door. He pressed the open button on the side panel that opened up the airlock and entered, the airlock door closing behind him which began the decontamination protocol. Marcus waited for the decontamination to end, finally after the thirty seconds the onboard VI told him he was cleared to enter the ship.

The entire ship was quiet as most of the personal were on leave when they docked, leaving only a few security personal on board to prevent hijacking attempts.

"Welcome back Captain" the intercom came to life with a woman's voice. Marcus looked to the terminal next to the pilots' chair. The terminal displayed a holographic woman wearing a simple white shirt with black leggings and boots, her purple hair tied into a ponytail with some lose strands tucked behind her ear "Is leave cancelled? She asked.

"Hello Ava and no, leave is not cancelled. Need a S.C.I.F to view some info." Marcus told the A.I who just cocked her head to one side, "twenty-four hours into leave and already have a mission." Ava stated which caused Marcus to smirk at the A.I before he turned down the corridor to the C.I.C.

"I'll be in my quarters," Marcus said over his shoulder.

"So, should I recall the crew when you emerge from your quarters?" Ava asked the retreating figure of Marcus. "No," he told her.

Marcus walked into the C.I.C, the massive table in the center came to life displaying the galaxy map as he walked by to the elevator. Stepping inside he hit the button for the top floor which held his quarters and waited. Thankfully the elevators in the Normandy were much faster compared to the ones in the citadel tower. Stepping out of the elevator when the doors opened, entering his cabin he walked toward his desk that held his holo terminal, removing his jacket and hat which he draped over the back of his chair before he sat down.

Marcus turned on his terminal, the holo screen immediately came up. Removing the OSD from his jacket pocket he set it on the desk next to the terminal. Bringing up his omni-tool he activated the S.C.I.F mode for his quarters. The door clamps built into the door sealed him in, the green holo outside the door turned off, a kinetic barrier extended over the walls in his room which effectively cut all transmissions in or out. Not even Ava the ships A.I could listen in

Marcus watched the outline of his quarters blink red twice then to the lockdown was complete a message appeared on the holo screen in red letters, _'S.C.I.F mode engaged. Lockdown complete._ ' Once he cleared the message from his terminal, he inserted the OSD into the OSD slot on the side of the terminal.

The screen displayed the councils seal before the image changed to a blank screen, a message appeared. _'Place hand on screen for identification'_ , which Marcus did and waited as his hand was scanned twice. The image changed again displaying another message, _'identification confirmed. Captain Marcus Shepard'_. Once again the screen changed to a white background, different files lined the screen. Marcus touched the file named _'Delta Relay'_.

Various background information came up, when construction began and when it was finished. Noting nothing of interest except the Relay was large and extremely powerful. Back in the home screen one of the file interested him, _'Stasis Gel'_.

Opening the file revealed that in order to survive travel using the Delta Relay, a person must be submerged in a gel like substance that reminded him of omni-gel. There was even a video file attached which he played. The footage looked like it came from a bridge camera.

 _The crew walked from station to station checking to see if their systems were okay when the Captain and his X.O stepped on the bridge._

" _Captain on deck," the Captains X.O shouted, the crew stood at attention saluting the Captain who saluted them back._

" _At ease." He told the crew who went back to what they were doing before. The Captain went to the yeoman. "Status?" he asked._

" _All systems are green. We are ready to go." The yeoman told him as he went to the galaxy map when the comms officer told him that the council were calling. The galaxy map changed to display the holo images of the councilors, all of the crew saluted them. Zela smiled at them and told them to be at ease._

" _Captain, how are things looking?" she asked the Captain who answered. "Everything is in the green. We are good to go through the Delta Relay," he told her._

" _That's good to hear. We are receiving everything on our end and recording should the worse happen." Zela told the Captain who just nodded. "You are clear to use the Relay. Goddess guide you Captain," Zela said with a bow before the holo projection went back to the galaxy map._

" _Right, you all heard the council. Helm how are we looking?" The Captain asked. "We are good to go from here Captain. Coordinates are inputted," the intercom blared. The Captain sighed slowly before he spoke, "activate the Relay."_

 _The bridge was enveloped in a bright blue light that caused the crew to shield their eyes from the light. "Sir, the drive core just lit up like a Christmas tree. Power output is reaching critical levels," one of the engineers said over the intercom from engineering. The auto filter dimmed the light down to tolerable levels for the crew._

" _Sir, we are picking up massive amounts of static buildup on our hull." Another engineer spoke through the intercom._

" _Prepare to drop o…" the Captain was cut off when blood started to flow from his nose. Everyone on the bridge seemed to be suffering from the same effect. Blood soon flowed from their eyes, ears, and mouth. The Captain grabbed his stomach as he coughed up blood that splattered on the console, one of the crew fell to the ground coughing up blood. The scene was the same all across the bridge, crew members coughing up blood and falling over._

" _Dro…dro…" the Captain tried to speak but found it impossible due to the amount of blood he was coughing up. The sounds of the hull creaking, almost like the hull was twisting and bending on itself, the sound of someone screaming soon filled the bridge._

 _The Captain was now on the floor screaming bloody murder when he exploded in a gory fashion._

Marcus hit pause right at that moment. He wasn't a stranger to blood and gore but the way the Captain exploded was disturbing. Seeing that only ten seconds remained he hit the play button.

 _After the Captain exploded the rest of the crew followed suite and based off the screaming on the intercom it was happening all over the ship. The footage ended with the ship tearing itself apart_

Marcus exhaled after the footage ended. _'And they want us to use the Delta Relay,'_ he thought. Reading more about the stasis gel showed that it was invented after a second attempt to use the Delta Relay also ended with the ship and crew exploding. Going back to the file about the Delta Relay showed that he missed a very important detail. The static buildup and power consumption from the drive core tripled when the Delta Relay is used and that a special hull plating is also needed for ships.

After eight hours of reading Marcus didn't even come close to being finished with the files, cracking his neck he rose from his chair and went to his bed where he collapsed on it. Staring at the ceiling,reviewing everything he read so far. Delta Relay causes any organics to explode in a gory fashion. Need to be submerged in stasis gel to survive the FTL, the Mrk. 14 Drive Core needs to be installed in order to use the Relay without the ship exploding. Stasis pods also need to be installed for the crew.

"How do they expect this to be done within a year?" he asked to himself, draping his right arm over his eyes. Marcus still needed to inform his crew, rising from his bed he walked over to the terminal, removing the OSD and deactivating the S.C.I.F mode. Grabbing his jacket, he made his way to the elevator and pressed the button for the cargo bay.

"Ava," Marcus said as he put on his jacket. "You rang?" Ava spoke through the elevator intercom.

"You need to stop watching old earth vids," Marcus told the A.I, looking at the camera in the elevator. "Recall the crew to the ship. I have to tell them something," he asked her.

"Recalling the crew now. Shall I have them meet you in the cargo bay?" she asked Marcus who just nodded.

Within an hour most of the crew of the Normandy were inside the cargo hold, a couple of the crew had yet to arrive so Marcus let the crew relax until everyone was present. The crew whispered among themselves wondering what the Captain has to say.

"What do you think the meetings bout?" Someone said.

"I betcha we have a new op in the Terminus systems." Another spoke.

"Think he's moving on to another post?"

"No way, the Captain loves the Normandy too much to just give it up."

Different reasons for the meeting continued to spread. Finally, when the last crewmember arrived Marcus nodded to his XO, Sasha Beckett.

"Attention on deck!" the entire crew stood at attention. Marcus stood on the balcony overlooking the crew with Sasha to his right. "At ease," Marcus ordered them which they immediately did.

"Thank you all for coming. I realize that some of you are worried that this means another mission for us." Marcus told them and based off their reactions, he was right. "Let me tell you right now that this is not the reason for this meeting." he said that caused some of the crew to exhale with relief, they had just come back from a three-month looked at the faces of his crew before he continued.

"The information that I'm about to reveal comes straight from the council. This is beyond classified and we need a S.C.I.F. but the war room won't fit all of us," this caused some of the crew to chuckle while the others remained serious. Marcus knew that by telling his crew everything he would be thrown into the brig and served a dishonorable discharge but he trusted the men and women under his command with his life. Marcus told his crew everything. The transmission, the fleet, and the position that he accepted.

The entire crew was silent when Marcus finished. Some of the crew felt that they shouldn't do anything, after all the Initiative left them to the Reapers then why should they help them. The rest simply couldn't believe it while others felt like they should help them.

"I understand that this is a lot to take in." Marcus told them after a minute, the attention of the crew back on him. "I'm not asking any of you to join me to Andromeda," he told them. "This has to be your decision. Take some time, think it over, and come back tomorrow." Marcus said to the crew as he dismissed them. stepping into the elevator with Sasha he pressed the button for his cabin.

"You know they are going to follow you no matter what." Sasha said during the elevator ride, Marcus looked at her. Sasha stood out in any crowd due to her pale skin, her light auburn hair was in a bun, and she had dark brown eyes.

"I know. I just want to give them the chance to choose." Marcus said to her honestly. He never made nor ordered the crew to follow him on impossible ops, he always gave them the choose to follow him or back out. "Some of crew have families and I'm not going to be responsible for tearing them apart." He said, now looking at the elevator doors. "I've made my choice," he told Sasha just as the doors opened. Looking down at the ground then to Sasha, "I'm not going to make the crews choice for them."

Marcus stepped out of the elevator leaving Sasha behind as the doors closed. Marcus entered his quarters deciding to spend the night instead of going back to his apartment. Changing into his night clothes and performing his nightly ritual before climbing into bed. The nightmares never changed, they always remain the same. Waking from his nightmare when his alarm rang, climbing out of bed he went to the small bathroom in his quarters for a quick shower.

Stepping out of the shower, he dried himself and wrapped a towel around his midsection before making his way to the dresser to grab his fatigues. "Sir, the crew has gathered in the cargo hold," Ava told him over the intercom just as Marcus was pulling on his jacket.

"Thank you Ava," Marcus said to her, zipping up his jacket before going to the elevator. Within minutes Marcus was back in the cargo hold with his crew, making his way back to his perch overlooking the crew. "Attention on deck!" Sasha shouted, the crew stood at attention.

"At ease," Marcus told them, "I'll make this simple. Step forward if you're coming." Marcus told them, making sure to look at each face before speaking again. "I won't think any less of you if you decide to stay."

The crew looked to one another before looking to their captain. One by one the entire crew stepped forward. Marcus smiled slightly at the sight before him, "thank you." He told _his_ crew.

"We've been to every hell imaginable in this galaxy. That makes us family, sir." Vlad Belikov, the Normandy's quartermaster spoke up.

"And the pilot seat already has my ass groove in it." Chloe Springer, the Normandy's pilot also spoke up which caused the crew to laugh.

"I'm not trusting the Normandy's maintenance to anyone else." Walt Langford, chief engineer to the Normandy spoke up. "She needs a gentle touch."

"Hmm, you know all about the 'soft touch' don't you?" Victoria "Vic" Langford spoke up which caused Walt to blush and cleared his throat. The crew laughed at him, when the laughing quieted down Marcus smiled at the crew's antics before he spoke up.

"I know that by joining me some of you will be leaving families behind." He said to them, "I swear to you right now that I'll do everything I can to get your families clearance to come." Marcus promised them, he didn't usually make promise but just this once he would.

"The Normandy needs to be taken in for retrofits." Marcus told the crew slipping back into his Captain persona. "Chloe, Ava has the coordinates. Talk to her to receive them and get us there," he told Chloe who nodded. "I want a report of all systems in two hours," he told them. "Dismissed."

"Yes sir!" the crew saluted Marcus who saluted them back. Within an hour the Normandy was on its way to the Utopia System in theExodus Cluster. Marcus spent most of the journey in the QEC room trying to convince the council to clear the families for his crew. Thankfully after two hours of "negotiating" he finally managed to convince them to clear the families just in time too as Chloe announced.

"Coming up on the Utopia System,cap'n." she said over the intercom, "figured you want to see where we're headed." She said as Marcus made his way to the cockpit.

"You're right," Marcus said to her when he entered the cockpit. "Exiting the tunnel in three, two, one." Marcus watched as the blackness of space replaced the blue glow of the FTL tunnel as the Normandy exited FTL, almost immediately after dropping out of FTL they were contacted.

"SSV Normandy, this is the CSV Thessia's Light we've been expecting you." The comms officer for the Thessia's Light spoke through the communication terminal. "CSV Thessia's Light, this is Captain Shepard of the SSV Normandy. We have been given these coordinates from the council." Marcus spoke.

"We have sent you a flight vector Normandy. Do not deviate from it, we'll escort you in." The comms officer for the Thessia's Light said before the communication terminal went dead.

"So nice of the council to send us an S.D for escort," Chloe said as she inputted commands into the flight console.

"Where are we headed?" Marcus asked her as he looked over her shoulder. "The flight vector they sent us leads to Eden Prime." Chloe said.

"Take us in." Marcus told her.

* * *

 **Codex**

 **Stasis-Gel**

The first two attempts to use the Delta Relay proved disastrous to the ships and their crew as the resulting static buildup proved too dangerous to organics and ships. After the second attempt it was discovered that the FTL tunnel created by the Delta Relay emits a unique signal that targets organics. This signal causes the organs and cells within a person to liquefy, this happens in three stages. The first stage is subtle as the vessels in the body are the first to liquefy, this causes nosebleeds soon after blood begins to flow from the eyes, ears, and mouth.

The second stage is when the organs save for the heart begin to liquefy slowly, the excess blood buildups in the body, causing the person to expel more blood through their orifices, (eyes, nose, mouth, and ears).

The third stage is fatal when the last organ, the heart explodes instead of liquefying. This causes all the excess blood in the body to explode outward in a gory fashion. The skin having already begun to liquefy at this point can't contain the excess blood.

Attempts to block the signal on a large scale have been unsuccessful as the signal is able to bypass any signal blocker. However, it was discovered that nano machines could effectively block the signal when many are linked together. Stasis-gel is comprised of thousands of nano machines suspended in a gel, these nano machines are programmed to neutralize the signal before it can reach the person suspended in the gel.

 **Eden Prime**

Eden Prime is the lead in Reaper research along with R&D for the Alliance Military and the Council. They are responsible for unlocking the secrets of the Reapers technology. They are responsible for creating the Stasis-Gel along with the Phoenix Armor Plating for ships.

* * *

 **AN: So I sat at my desk trying to come up with a way to transport a fleet from the Milky Way to Andromeda while trying to keep it in the realm of science of the Mass Effect universe.**

 **Originally I planned to have an undiscovered Relay be connected to another in Andromeda but that would have brought up a whole set of other problems. Like why would the Reapers build a Relay in Andromeda when their sole focus is the Milky Way and are there other Reapers in Andromeda, if there were then why didn't the Jaardan (I think that's how you spell it) report them. Did the Reapers cause the Scourge to eliminate them but why would they do that when they can just harvest them. Does Andromeda have their own cycle?**

 **Then I remembered from the original ME trilogy that the Asari were planning to build their own Relays. So I took that idea and expanded upon it and thus the Delta Relay was "born". Now, this brought its own set of problems like how does it work when it doesn't have a sister Relay. So instead of traveling from Relay to Relay like before they could just enter coordinates and off they go.**

 **I also wanted the Delta Relay to be dangerous, it was after all built using Reaper tech. I wanted to show that even though the Milky Way species conquered the Reapers that they still don't fully understand their technology even after 600 of research.**

 **I will be reposting the first chapter that will include an explanation as to how the Milky Way was able to pick up the distress call from Andromeda.**

 **Lastly, thank you to everyone who took the time to read this story. (Chapter four is coming)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Mass Effect belongs to Bioware and EA.**

* * *

Chapter 4

Marcus sat at the desk in the room provided for him in the residential sector for his extended stay on Eden Prime. Four months have passed since the Council took possession of the Normandy for retrofits on Eden Prime and for those four months he and his crew and been subjected to numerous tests, physical and psychological evaluations, having needles being put in uncomfortable place, along with being submerged in Stasis-gel and put into stasis. One time the scientists even kept Marcus and his crew under stasis for a month to see if they are any side effects to being submerged in stasis-gel for long periods of time. Marcus recalled the experience.

 _Marcus put on the suit that the scientists gave him, they explained to him that all personal are required to wear them upon entering the stasis pod._

" _I feel stupid in this get up," Chloe said when she exited the women's changing room. Marcus zipped up his own suit before speaking._

" _It's not that different from armor suits…or flight suits," Marcus told Chloe who just glared at him causing a few of the crew to chuckle_. _"I've never worn either of those," Chloe told him._

 _Marcus just rolled his eyes as the door to the changing room opened. A scientist came strolling in carrying a data pad, "Ready?" she asked. Marcus looked at his crew, everyone was wearing the 'stasis suit' he dubbed them before turning back to the scientists and nodding to her._

 _The scientist led Marcus and his crew to a large room that held pods mounted on the walls on both sides of the room. More scientists were mingling with each other in the center of the room when the scientist who escorted them cleared her throat._

" _Welcome, Captain," the lead scientist said as he walked up to Marcus extending his hand, Marcus shook his hand. "Everyone please choose a pod," the scientist gestured to the pods as they detached from the walls and were placed parallel to the ground before they opened._

 _Marcus walked towards a pod, the crew following his lead went to the pods and stood next to them waiting further instructions. "Please step inside," the scientists told them which they did. Marcus laid in the pod looking at the ceiling when one of the scientists came over, "there is a breathing unit here" he gestured to Marcus's right, "put it on immediately." He told Marcus before leaving to check on another pod._

 _Marcus looked to his right and saw the breathing unit that the scientist told him, reaching for it and placing it over his nose and mouth, the breathing unit let out an audible hiss signaling a good connection. "The pod will close now and after that it will begin filling with the stasis gel. Do not panic." The lead scientist told them as the pods sealed themselves, plunging Marcus and the crew into darkness._

 _Marcus took slow deep breaths when he felt something cool surround him. The gel felt weird when it came into contact with his skin, Marcus closed his eyes as the gel soon covered his face. Marcus was soon submerged entirely in the gel within the pod, he soon felt himself losing consciousness._

 _When Marcus finally regained consciousness, everything was blurry, there was something on his face that was making it hard for him to breathe. Before he could remove whatever was on his face something stopped him. "Easy, Captain. Your disoriented," a voice spoke from somewhere, removing whatever was on his face for him allowing him to breathe easier_

Marcus shook off the memory not exactly wanting to relive the experience. It took six minutes just for the disorientation to wear off and then the scientists told him that he was in stasis for a month, that was shocker for him. To Marcus he just closed his eyes and the next he was awake. Rising from his seat he went to window, buildings of various sizes could be seen in the distance along with the hanger where the Normandy was being kept for retrofits.

A beeping sound drew him from his window gazing, turning around he spotted the source of the beeping, his omni-tool. Walking away from the window he went to his desk where his omni-tool sat, grabbing the silver bracelet from the desk and putting it on. Opening his omni-tool he saw that someone was calling him, accepting the call he saw an asari on the other end of the call.

"Afternoon Captain. I'm Dr. Telvia," Telvia said to Marcus. Having spent four months undergoing various tests Marcus knew pretty much all of the doctors but he didn't know this Telvia.

"More tests?" Marcus asked the doctor which caused her to laugh.

"Actually no." Telvia said when she stopped laughing, "please come to the Medical Sector. I'll explain more once you get here." Telvia said before she ended the call. Marcus left his room, passing people in the hallways as he made his way toward the elevator as his room was on the top floor of the residential building where the R&D scientists lived and where his crew were now staying.

Leaving the residential building Marcus made his way toward the tram that would take him to the Medical Sector. Getting on the tram with other people going to the Medical Sector, grabbing a seat by the window he watched the building pass by with little interest.

"Now leaving the Residential Sector." The tram V.I said over the intercom.

Losing interest watching the buildings go by Marcus decided to take a quick nap before arriving in the Medical Sector. Marcus woke from his nap when the tram V.I announced they are approaching the Medical Sector, minutes later the tram pulled into the station. Upon exiting the tram Marcus was approached by Dr. Telvia.

"Welcome Captain." Dr. Telvia said as she offered her hand.

"Ma'am." Marcus replied as he shook her hand. Telvia smiled as he released her hand.

"Please follow me." She said to Marcus before she started walking towards the tram exit, Marcus right on her heels. Telvia led Marcus to a skycar which they both entered. Once both Telvia and Marcus were seated Telvia activated the skycar and maneuvered into traffic, once again Marcus watched the building go by.

"I assume you finished reading the files on the OSD that the council gave you?" Telvia asked breaking the silence.

"Yes, I did." Marcus said looking at Telvia for a moment before going back to looking out of the window. The past four months gave Marcus enough time to finish reading the files on the OSD. Most of the information was just background info on the Initiative, notable people, and the Pathfinders which he found interesting.

"Good. What do you know about the Pathfinders?" Telvia quizzed Marcus while focusing on the incoming traffic.

"Highly trained individuals with various backgrounds. Responsible for finding a habitable planet to settle." Marcus answered, never looking away from the window. "Tip of the spear for the Initiative."

"Hmm…impressive." Telvia said, risking a glance to Marcus. "What about their partners?" she asked Marcus who looked at her confused, he didn't read anything about the Pathfinders having partners besides their second in command and teammates.

"What partners?" he asked.

"It's a secret that the Andromeda Initiative kept hidden from the public." Telvia spoke answering his question. "Well, tried to anyway. The Pathfinders are implemented with an implant that allows an A.I to take control of the central nervous system of the Pathfinders and assist them." she said. Marcus couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"The Initiative has an A.I?" Marcus asked, _'how the hell did they get that by the council?'_ he thought to himself.

"We think so. The records that survived the Reaper War seemed to suggest that." Telvia answered.

"Why didn't the files mention it?" Marcus asked her.

"The information was _provided_ to us last week."

"Who provided the info?" Marcus asked intrigued.

"The Shadow Broker, we assume." Telvia answered as she powered down the skycar. Marcus was so caught up in his thoughts about why Liara would provide the information that he didn't notice they landed outside a building. "Follow me." Telvia said upon exiting the skycar.

Marcus followed Telvia as she knew where to go in the maze of corridors. The turned left and right and left again that Marcus got turned around, by the time they arrived at their destination which looked like an operating theatre. Telvia waved her omni-tool in front of the doors causing them to open, stepping inside the room Marcus saw an operating room behind an observation glass, along with five other people inside the room. A quarian, salarian, two geth units, and one human.

"Dr. Telvia, welcome back." One of the geth units said. Telvia smiled as she did a slight bow.

"Thank you." Telvia said once she finished her bow. "Is everything ready?" she asked.

"Yes doctor." One of the quarians answered, gesturing to the operating room behind the observation glass.

"Good." Telvia turned toward back to Marcus, "please take a seat Captain." She gestured to an empty chair. Telvia waited until Marcus sat down before she continued. "As I was saying earlier. The Pathfinders are implanted with an A.I implant chip. As you will be." When Telvia finished speaking Marcus was once again stunned by what he heard.

"Excuse me?" Marcus asked.

"We are going to surgically embed the A.I implant in you." Telvia answered his question.

"Where?"

"At the base of the skull." Telvia brought up her omni-tool to display a 3-D image of a human skull. "This will allow the A.I implant access to the CNS." The base of the 3-D skull blinked red to show where the implant would go. "Any questions? "

"Are others being implemented with the A.I implant?" Marcus asked Telvia.

"No. you are going to be the only one." The quarian told Marcus.

"Why?"

"Councils orders." The human simply said, leaning against the wall. "They only want you to have the implant."

"Why?" Marcus asked again, even though he already knew the answer.

"Don't know." Telvia said honestly. "We best get started as the procedure is going to take three hours." Telvia said changing the subject which seemed the work as the rest of her colleagues simply nodded to each other before entering the operating room. "There is a changing room there." Telvia gestured to room off to the side before entering the operating room herself.

Marcus entered the changing room and saw a medical gown that looked to be about his size. Changing into the medical gown before leaving the changing room, Marcus saw Dr. Telvia waiting for him by the entrance to the operating room wearing a surgical coat. Upon entering the operating room Marcus noted the smell of various sterilizing chemicals in the room.

"Lay on the table." Telvia gestured to the white operating table in the center of the room. Marcus walked over to the table and sat down, his hands gripping the edge of the table. Taking a deep breath and exhaling before he laid down.

"Nervous?" The quarian asked.

"Wouldn't you be?" Marcus replied to the quarian who just smirked.

"Of course." The quarian said before he activated the table straps. Marcus was restrained to the table as straps emerged and restrained him by his hands, feet, chest, even by his head. "Just a precaution." The quarian said, answering Marcus question before he could ask it.

"Alright, Captain I'm going to sedate you now. When you wake up, the A.I implant will already be in place." Dr. Telvia explained to Marcus, who nodded. Within seconds Marcus was sedated. "Vitals?"

"Vitals are strong, doctor." The human said, monitoring the holo screen that displayed Marcus' vitals. Dr. Telvia pushed the button that would flip the table, allowing her to make the incision at the base of Marcus' skull.

"Let's begin. Laser scalpel." Telvia said holding out her left hand which soon held a pen like object. Switching the object on produced a laser beam, making a three-inch incision on the back of the neck. "Forceps." She said to her assistant who applied the forceps, opening the incision allowing Telvia to continue.

"Where did the implant designs come from? The quarian asked to no one in particular while Dr. Telvia continued to operate.

"From the Andromeda Initiative." Telvia answered, never losing focus on the task at hand.

"But the Council and the Shadow Broker both gave us the designs." The quarian clarified for his colleagues.

"Both the Council and the Shadow Broker stole the designs from the Andromeda Initiative in 2181." One of the geth units spoke up.

"Not surprising." Telvia said, making another incision.

"Why do you say that Dr. Telvia?" The salarian asked. Telvia sighed before she answered.

"It's not the first time the Council stole something for their own benefit and it won't be the last." Telvia clarified. "And information is power to the Shadow Broker."

After that no one decided to talk which was alright to Telvia as she liked the quiet, it helped her concentrate on the current task. An hour and half later Telvia removed the last layer of tissue, allowing her access to the central nervous system.

"Alright, path is clear." Telvia said as she placed the laser scalpel on the medical tray next to her. "Vitals?"

"Still going strong, Doctor."

"Alright, on to the next step." Telvia said, looking to the salarian. "The implant?" She asked.

The salarian walked over to Telvia holding a small silver case, when the salarian was standing next to Telvia he opened the case allowing her to see the implant for the first time. The implant wasn't that large, it was roughly half an inch by half an inch. Picking up the implant with a pair of surgical tweezers, she carefully placed the implant in the central canal of the spinal cord.

"Implant is in place." Telvia said, placing the tweezers next to the laser scalpel on the medical tray. "Activate the implant," she said to one of the geth units.

"Acknowledged."

Gasps could be heard as everyone watched thin hair like wires extend from the implant chip and enter the nervous system.

"Give me a 3-D view." Telvia requested. Soon a 3-D image of Marcus' nervous system was displayed for everyone to see. They watched as the wires integrated with the central nervous system, circulation, endocrine function, and exteroceptive senses. "Beautiful," Telvia whispered low enough that nobody else save for the geth units heard it.

"Integration at 100%." The geth unit announced.

"Alright, lets close him up." Telvia said. Another hour and half later they closed the incision wound. When everything checked out, Telvia had Marcus moved to a room to let the sedative wear off.

When Marcus opened his eyes he felt groggy but at least he wasn't disoriented for which he was thankful for. Examining his surroundings, he noticed that he was no longer in the operating room so he assumed that the operation went well.

"How you feeling?" Dr. Telvia said entering the room. she walked over to Marcus' bedside.

"Groggy." He answered, "The operation went well?"

"It did," Telvia told him, bringing up her omni-tool to display a 3-D image of what Marcus guessed was his spinal cord. "The implant is currently in place in the central canal of your spinal cord," a small red dot appeared near the top of the spinal cord.

"So, what happens now?"

"Now, we activate the implant for the A.I link," Telvia said, replacing the 3-D image with another screen. "This will allow you're A.I partner to remain in contact with you." She explained. "Ready?" she asked, Marcus felt like her asking was just a courtesy as she typed some commends on her screen without him saying yes.

Marcus felt something cool on the back of his neck, the feeling traveled down his spine and up to his head. After a minute the feeling passed when he heard a voice singing?

" _Coo, coo, coo that's what pigeons say."_

Marcus heard the voice sing, a voice he knew well.

"Ava?" Marcus asked, surprised that the Normandy's A.I would be his partner. He was glad that Ava would be his partner instead of a new A.I, Marcus was more comfortable with Ava.

" _The new and improved version,"_ Ava responded.

"Improved?"

" _I've been given upgrades. I can now leave the ship via a combat unit while remaining in contact with you,"_ Ava told Marcus, who took the news surprising well.

"Everything appears to be functional," Dr. Telvia spoke up, monitoring the conversation between Marcus and Ava. "We are going to keep you here for observation. Just in case something goes wrong," Telvia said closing her omni-tool.

 **One month later**

Marcus got into cover as his shields failed from the incoming fire. Taking a breather allowing his shields to recover. Leaning from cover he saw the four remaining hostiles, two humans, one krogan, and a salarian were behind cover and in between nothing that would shield him from incoming fire. _'Half a clip remaining, four hostiles left, and limited to no cover'_ , he thought to himself.

" _We could use a combo to take them out,"_ Ava suggested.

"Good idea," Marcus told her, grabbing a thanix grenade from one of the built in compartments in his armor. "Ava, when I give the signal give me a boost," Marcus told her arming the grenade but never taking his finger off the arming button. Marcus inhaled and exhaled slowly.

Marcus exited his cover and fired a couple shots at the four remaining hostiles forcing them into cover. The moment the hostiles were in cover; Marcus threw the grenade over their cover.

"Grenade!" one of the humans shouted, diving out of cover to avoid the blast and into Marcus' line of sight as the plasma grenade detonated. Firing upon the disoriented hostiles Marcus managed to kill one of the human combatants before his clip ran out. Collapsing his rifle before placing it on his back, the magnetic clamps securing the rifle. Marcus ran towards the remaining combatants before they could regain their senses.

Closing the distance by biotic blinking, about halfway Marcus noticed that the remaining combatants were regaining their senses. Brining up his omni-tool he fired an incinerate at the remaining human, detonating on impact the flames engulfed the human, the heat of the flames cooking him alive inside his own armor. With one less to deal with Marcus focused on the remaining two, with some distance left he decided to close it with a biotic charge. His target the salarian.

The kinetic engery built up during Marcus's charge was released upon slamming into the salarian, shattering every bone in his body as he was flung against the wall. With the salarian dealt with, Marcus turned his attention to the Krogan.

"You've got quad, human," the krogan said aiming his shotgun to Marcus' chest but before he could pull the trigger, Marcus sent an overload to the krogan's shotgun rendering it useless. "I don't need a weapon to kill you!" the krogan roared, throwing away his shotgun and charging. Marcus made no attempt to get out of the way of the charging Krogan, instead he waited until the krogan was six yards from him.

"Now!" Marcus yelled. Ava pushed the biotic implant in Marcus to the limit, giving him a small power boost to his biotics. He enveloped himself in a biotic energy field, similar to creating a barrier but instead of deflecting incoming fire, it increases his mass giving his punches more kick. Marcus sidestepped the charging krogan throwing a punch to the krogan's face as he passed, the punch knocked the krogan to the ground.

Not wasting an opening Marcus threw another punch to the downed krogan. When Marcus was about to threw another punch the krogan blocked the punch and grabbed Marcus by his shoulders then proceeded to head butt him. Before the krogan's head connected, Marcus threw a punch to the krogan's ribs, breaking some in the process, this caused the krogan to stagger backwards. Giving Marcus another opening as he threw jabs, then a right hook, followed by an uppercut. The krogan flew backwards after the uppercut and landed on his back.

"Good fight, human." The krogan wheezed as Marcus walked over to the defeated krogan and grabbed him by his armor collar bringing the krogan face to face with Marcus. Raising his right hand, Marcus formed a ball of biotic energy in his palm and brought it down on the krogan's head splattering the ground with blood. Marcus let go of the krogan and took a deep breath, canceling the biotic energy field enveloping him.

"Simulation over." A V.I said over an intercom as the bodies and environment disappeared revealing a room that could hold an Alliance dreadnought. The doors to the simulation room opened and in came several scientists talking amongst themselves as they walked towards Marcus who could hear their conversation even though he was two hundred yards from them.

"Amazing, outnumbered twelve to one, limited ammo, and he still manages to kill them all." One scientist said.

"Fighting a krogan in hand to hand combat is suicidal, even with the help of Nanos."

"His A.I helped him in that fight by pushing the biotic implant to its limit."

"I knew N8 operatives were tough but damn."

"The A.I increased his reaction time during the whole simulation."

"Captain, excellent performance in the simulation." The lead scientist said to Marcus when the group reached him.

"Want me to go again?" Marcus asked the group, hoping he wouldn't have too.

"Oh no. we have everything we need." One of the scientists towards the back of the group said. "This was actually the last simulation."

" _Thank fucking god,"_ Ava said over their private com channel, Marcus had to fight to keep the smile off his face even though he felt the same way. _"Was starting to get tired making you look good for the eggheads."_

"Take a break, Captain. You more than earned it after being in the sim for weeks," the lead scientist told Marcus who nodded and started to make his way toward the armory, leaving the group of scientists behind.

Finally, back in his fatigues Marcus left the simulation room quickly in case the scientists decided to run one more sim. A week after his implant surgery Marcus was subjected to numerous tests to see if there were any side effects to the implant. When it became clear that there were no side effects, the scientists decided to test out how well Ava could assist Marcus in a combat situation. So, for the past three weeks Marcus spent nearly every hour of every day inside the simulation room.

" _Three weeks of hell you mean,"_ Ava said sounding frustrated. Since being linked Marcus noticed subtle changes in Ava. She's more sarcastic, curious, and added swear words to her vocabulary. The first time she swore was when a scientist asked her how she was doing and she responded with, _"same shit, different day"._ Marcus smiled at the memory as he boarded the tram to the Residential Sector. Upon arriving in the Residential Sector Marcus was approached by Sasha.

"Scientists finally let you go?" Sasha asked, falling in step with Marcus as he made his way towards the cafeteria for a quick bite.

"Yeah, finished the last sim an hour ago." Marcus told her, passing a group of engineers as they entered the cafeteria. Marcus grabbed a steak sandwich and a bottle of water, while Sasha went with just a turkey sandwich. After getting their food, both Marcus and Sasha looked for a spot to sit. Finally spotting a seat at the table where their crewmates sat, Sasha tapped Marcus' shoulder and gestured to the open spot.

"Boss!" One of the crew yelled over the commotion of the cafeteria when she spotted Marcus and Sasha. The crew made room for both Marcus and Sasha at the table for them to sit. After grabbing their seats, the crew resumed talking amongst themselves, giving Marcus time to finish his meal in peace. Looking around the table Marcus noticed that some of the crew were missing.

"Where's the rest of the crew?" he asked.

"Stasis," one of the crewmembers said. Everyone at the table groaned at the word "Stasis", they hated going into stasis and they hated the feeling of coming out even worse. Thankfully the R&D lab created a shot that gets rid of the disorientation but tests were still needed before they could mass produce the shot, and that's where the crew came in.

"Have you guys seen the Normandy?" Walt asked changing the subject.

"No, they won't give us access," Marcus said, taking a sip of water. The one time he went to see the Normandy, he got turned away by the guards saying that he didn't have clearance.

"I did. And let me tell you, it's bad." Walt said getting everyone's attention. "she doesn't even look like a ship anymore. The hull's gone, everything is stripped, and the frame isn't even a frame anymore."

"It makes sense they would take the ship apart." Vic said, taking a sip of her tea. "For retrofits."

"I thought they would just replace the hull or the drive core. Not tear the ship apart." Walt said looking at his wife.

"I agree with Vic on this one. Besides the Normandy was due for maintenance." Marcus said, finishing his sandwich.

" _How did Walt get access to the Normandy's hanger? When I can't hack the cameras for a peek."_ Ava asked curiously. Even Marcus was wondering about that.

"How did you get access to the hanger anyway, Walt?" Marcus asked Walt who just smiled nervously and suddenly finding the table interesting. "Walt?"

"I saw a monkey playing with a wrench," Walt said fast that Marcus couldn't quite hear what he said.

"What?"

"He means that he snuck into the hanger last night," Vic said glaring at her husband for lying causing him to shrink into his seat.

"Did anyone see you?" Marcus asked Walt."

"No…"

Before Marcus could reprimand Walt for being stupid, the entire cafeteria grew quiet as someone called his name from the entrance.

"Captain Shepard?"

Marcus turned around to get a better look at the person calling him and was surprised to see Va'alor along with two Council guards, her escorts he assumed. Once Va'alor spotted Marcus sitting with his crew, she made her way over.

"Good to see you again, Captain," she said when she reached the table. "I'm sorry to intrude on your lunch, but the Council has sent a shuttle for you and your crew." She informed Marcus and his crew, earning a few confused glances.

"What do you mean?" Marcus asked, not sure why the Council would send Va'alor and a shuttle for him and his crew.

"You and your crew have been on Eden Prime for five months. Undergoing various tests, you must be getting tired of the same routine." She said and she wasn't that far off either, as the crew was starting to get tired of being lab rats. "This is your vacation, as you say." The moment the words "vacation" left Va'alor's mouth the crew broke into smiles, happy to be getting away from all the tests.

"When do we leave?" One of the crew asked, not bothering to hide the excitement in her voice.

"When the rest of your crewmates join us." Va'alor told her and the crew at the same time. "The shuttle will take us to the Citadel, from there you can relax." She added.

Marcus could tell that the crew were happy to be leaving Eden Prime, even if it was only for a week before they had to go back. Once everyone was onboard the shuttle they departed and went into FTL once they were clear of the planet. It would be about three hours before they arrived back at the Citadel, deciding to pass the time by playing chess with Ava. Which turned out to be a bad idea as she knew every move he made, as a result she won every round.

Finally, they arrived at the Citadel after Marcus lost to Ava for the eighth time. When the shuttle doors opened Marcus and the crew were greeted with and odd sight, the entire dock was filled with reporters and C-Sec personal holding them back. Marcus stepped out of the shuttle first leading the way for his crew who followed behind him, doing their best to ignore the questions that the reporters were asking them.

"Captain, what do you say to the people. Who say that the Initiative don't deserve our help since they didn't stay to help during the Reaper War?" One of the reporters asked.

"Is it true that the Council is going to grant the Rachni colonization rights to planets in Council space if they agree to help?"

Thankfully C-Sec kept the reporters at bay long enough for Marcus and his crew to make it out of the docking bay. Once the crew were in the wards, everybody went their separate ways to begin their leave. Marcus decided to head back to his apartment to pack up his things since he was planning to stay on Eden Prime until the fleet is ready to launch. Unfortunately, reporters were staking out his apartment hoping to grab an interview with him.

Thankfully Marcus didn't have to use the front entrance as his apartment building had a side entrance. Once inside he made his way back to his apartment, entering his apartment he made his way to the bedroom where he kept his footlocker. Marcus was glad that he didn't own much as he was able to fit everything he owned in the footlocker. Deciding to change out of his fatigues, he grabbed his civvies and changed. He now wore a black t-shirt, cargo pants, boots, and his N8 hoodie.

Making a final round throughout the apartment just to make sure he didn't forget anything. Grabbing his footlocker, Marcus made sure to turn off the lights before he left as he wasn't planning to come back. After canceling the lease on his apartment in the main office, he left the same way he came in to avoid to reporters who were still waiting for him. Once he was clear of the reporters he made his way to the Human Embassy to have his footlocker transferred to his quarters on Eden Prime. With that taken care of, Marcus went on his leave.

Three days into his leave, Marcus got an email from Wrex saying to meet him in the Citadel Tower. Marcus exited the elevator and found Wrex waiting for him.

"Hey kid," Wrex said to him. "Walk with me."

"What's wrong?" Marcus asked, falling in step with Wrex.

"Me and Grunt are going with you." Wrex stated bluntly, causing Marcus to stagger slightly.

"What?" Marcus asked, surprised that Wrex and Grunt were going to Andromeda with him. Marcus couldn't help but wonder why though. "Why?"

"Jane had a talent for finding trouble and you have that 'gift' too. So, I'm coming along to keep an eye on you," Wrex told Marcus. They both stopped outside of the Council's private chambers. "Also Grunt wants something new to shoot at," Wrex added, making Marcus chuckle.

"I'm not surprised about Grunt."

Wrex nodded in agreement as he showed his credential's to the Council guards. After the guards verified that Wrex had authorization to enter, they opened the doors for him. Marcus stayed behind as Wrex continued, the doors closing behind him.

" _It's good that Wrex is coming along."_ Ava told Marcus as he walked back to the elevators. _"You could use some familiar faces once we're in Andromeda."_

"Yeah," Marcus told Ava, making sure to keep his voice down so he didn't seem like he was talking to himself. Marcus couldn't deny that he was glad that both Wrex and Grunt would be going with him to Andromeda. Something told him that he might need the extra firepower that both krogans would bring.

 **Seven months later**

Marcus looked at himself in the mirror, nothing was out of the ordinary with his dress blues except that he now had an Admirals rank instead of a Captains rank on his shoulders. The Council decided that since he was going to be leading the fleet, he needed a "rank that reflects his position". Once again Marcus felt like he was getting special treatment cause of his last name.

" _You look nice,"_ Ava said distracting Marcus from his thoughts about his new rank. Marcus took one last look in the mirror before leaving the bedroom, making sure to grab his hat from the bed and doing one last check around the small room that was his for the past year. Even though his personal effects were already taken to the Normandy he just wanted to be sure before he left for good. Once he was satisfied, Marcus exited his room and was greeted with the sight of four N8 operatives.

"Admiral on deck," one of the operatives shouted as they stood at attention.

"At ease," Marcus told them, which they did.

"Sir, we are your escorts to the Normandy."

Marcus nodded and gestured for them to lead the way. Two walked in front of Marcus and the other two brought up the rear. The path to the shuttle pad was clear of people as the sight of four N8 operatives is enough to keep people at bay. There was already a Sparrow gunship waiting for them.

" _They really are concerned about your safety."_ Ava stated upon seeing the Sparrow gunship. Marcus couldn't help but agree as Sparrows were used as gunships but also double as troop carriers. Once Marcus and his escorts were onboard, the Sparrow departed Eden Prime and went into FTL.

"Where are we going?" Marcus asked one of the operatives. even Ava was curious.

"The Far Rim, sir."

"ETA is three hours," the pilot announced over the intercom. Marcus decided to spend the time talking to the operatives, having someone to talk too made the three hours pass by rather quickly as the pilot announced that they have arrived at their destination.

When the Sparrow exited FTL they were requested to transfer ID codes to the CSV Rannoch's Spirit for authorization. Once the ID codes were transferred and verified they were told to dock with the Rannoch's Spirit. Marcus looked out of the viewing window and could not believe what he was seeing. A thousand ships could be seen along with military escorts for security. How the Council managed to retrofit a thousand ships in a year is beyond Marcus.

Docking with the Rannoch's Spirit, Marcus was greeted by the ship's Captain.

"Welcome aboard, Admiral." The Captain said extending her hand.

"Thank you, Captain." Marcus replied, shaking her hand.

"Follow me. The Normandy is in hanger bay 12." The Captain turned on her heels and went down the hallways with Marcus and his escorts following. Marcus examined the interior of the ship as he never served on an SD, the corridors are spaced wide enough to allow multiple people of different species to pass through without disrupting operations. After taking the tram that ran the length of the ship they finally arrived at hanger 12.

When the doors to the hanger opened Marcus saw the Normandy again after a year. The overall design of the Normandy didn't change much if at all, the only noticeable difference was that the Normandy was slightly larger than before and had SR-7 painted on.

"Your ship, Admiral." The Captain said to Marcus as he leaned on the railing overlooking the hanger. "She's outfitted with the latest tech, weaponry, and kinetic barriers. The main armament is a scaled down version of the S.D's main cannon. She's now one of kind." The Captain explained, admiration evident in her voice.

"That she is, Captain. That she is," Marcus told her. The Captain excused herself as the she was needed on the bridge. Marcus walked up the boarding ramp to the portside airlock, his escorts stayed behind as their job was finished the moment Marcus stepped onto the boarding ramp. Entering the Normandy Marcus saw Chloe sitting in the pilots' chair doing a systems check on all systems.

"Welcome back, _Admiral_." Chloe said turning in her chair to get a better look at Marcus.

"Nothing's changed, Chloe." Marcus told her.

"I know, sir." Chloe said before leaning against the pilot seat and placing her right foot on the console.

"SSV Normandy, this is control you are clear to depart from hanger 12," A voice announced over the comms. Jolting Chloe out of her relaxation as she removed her foot from the console and straightened in her seat.

"Roger that control. We are departing bay 12." Chloe replied, her hands flying over the controls to guide the Normandy out of the hanger as the hanger bay doors opened. The Normandy flew slowly out of the Rannoch's Spirit hanger bay and taking position at the head of the fleet. "The comm is open if you want to address the fleet, sir."

Marcus knew that he was expected to give a speech, so taking a deep breath he opened his comm.

"In less than an hour, we are going to be launching the largest rescue operation in the history of the galaxy." Marcus said into the comm, every species on every ship listened in, even the reporters stopped reporting to listen. "Our destination, the Andromeda galaxy to respond to a distress call from the Initiative who left six hundred years ago. We go to not only help those in need but to set an example for others to follow. That despite the obstacles we have faced over the years, we are still willing to help those in need."

"Sir, detecting a massive object exiting FT…." one of the crewmembers on the bridge said before being interrupted by the sight of three S.D's emerging from FTL towing the Delta Relay behind them.

"Holy shit…." Marcus heard the Normandy's navigational officer, Paul Stevenson say in disbelief.

The Delta Relay was massive, almost the size of the Citadel. The cables attaching it to the S.D's detached as the Relay was moved into positon. Marcus knew that it was time.

"This is Admiral Shepard. All personal prepare for stasis," Marcus ordered over the comms. Everyone on the Normandy proceeded to the changing rooms to put on their stasis suits. "Ava."

" _Yes?"_ Ava said, appearing on the holo terminal.

"You have the con." Marcus said before he went to the changing rooms to put on his suit. Once his suit was on he went to the cargo bay where the crew were already entering their stasis pods. "Try not to crash the ship," Marcus said to Ava before entering his own stasis pod. Once the crew were secured in their stasis pods Ava made final systems checks.

"Control, this is SSV Normandy. All personal and tucked in and asleep." Ava said when she finished doing a systems check.

"Normandy, this is control we copy. All ships report in."

One by one the ships reported the same. All crewmembers were in stasis.

"Normandy, this is control. Coordinates for the Heleus Cluster in Andromeda are already inputted. You are cleared to activate the Relay. Good luck and god speed."

The Normandy flew towards the Delta Relay first, closely followed by the rest of the fleet. The Delta Relay activated as the Normandy transferred the authorization codes. The center rings began to spin faster as the Normandy approached, a stream of eezo latched onto the Normandy and propelled the ship to the Andromeda galaxy at a speed that was faster than both Relay and FTL travel. One by the one the ships used the Delta Relay until the entire fleet was gone. The fleet was now on their way to the Andromeda galaxy.

 **Shadow's Light**

Like everyone in the galaxy, Liara watched as the fleet used the Delta Relay to leave the Milky Way for Andromeda. Liara wanted to go with Marcus like Wrex and Grunt but decided against it, as her skills were more useful as the Broker. Besides she couldn't leave her home, closing her holo terminal Liara glanced at the photo that sat on her desk. The photo was of the original Normandy crew, taken after the Shepard clone fiasco.

Shepard and Kaidan sat in the middle as past and current members of the Normandy surrounded them with the exception of Thane krios and Mordin Solus. Kaidan had his arm draped over Jane's shoulder while Jane rested her head on Kaidan's shoulder, both smiling in the photo. Liara felt nostalgic as she remembered Jane and how they met on Therum all those years ago. Goddess she was so young and naïve back then.

Rising from her desk she wandered over to the observation window and looked out into the empty void of space. Liara was always on the move and never stayed in place for too long unlike her predecessor who never left Hagalaz.

Looking back at the photo on her desk Liara placed her hand against window, the coolness of the window sent a small shiver down Liara's back but she ignored it.

"Sleep well…Shepard."

 **Codex**

 **Relief Fleet**

When the signal from Andromeda was detected in 2818 and later determined to be a S.O.S from the Initiative who left the Milky Way in early 2815. The council put together a massive fleet that consists of a thousand ships. Five hundred ships are science and civilian ships while the other five hundred are mostly military ships that form the security force for the fleet. It is the largest multi-species fleet. The current number of species going are.

– Rachni

– Turians

– Asari

– Geth

– Quarians

– Humans

Leading the fleet is Admiral Marcus Shepard of the Alliance Navy. The fleet departed the Milky Way via the Delta Relay from the Far Rim in 2819.

 **Delta Relay**

The plans for the Delta Relay originally came from the Reaper A.I known as 'Star Child'. Examining the remaining bits of code left over from 'Star Child' revealed the blueprints for the Delta Relay. After the signal to activate the Citadel Relay failed in 2183, the A.I started to plan the construction of the Delta Relay as an alternative way for the Reapers to arrive in the Milky Way.

It was theorized that this massive Relay was to be built after the harvest of all organic life was complete. The Relay would then be transported to dark space where it would remain until the next cycle. The Relay would allow the Reapers instantaneous travel from dark space to any location in the galaxy.

The signal that caused the destruction of two council survey ships was later discovered to 'wipe' any organic material within the Reapers as they return to dark space. The signal acts as a decontamination protocol for the Reapers.

Construction of the Delta Relay began in 2659 and would later be completed in 2809 in secret. 30 km in length, it is the largest structure ever to be made by the Milky Way species. (The Citadel is 44.7 km in length).

 **Phoenix Armor Plating**

To handle the massive static buildup that the Delta Relay emits, the Phoenix Armor Plating was developed. Ships without the Phoenix plating are destroyed in ten minutes or less when using the D.R, the static buildup tears the hull plating apart. Phoenix Plating is unique as it is not only able to handle the static buildup but also captures the static buildup on the hull of a ship traveling at FTL, that is then transferred to the drive core.

 **Mrk. 14 Drive Core**

To survive the four to five-month journey without discharging the static buildup was one of the many problems that engineers faced. The Mrk. 14 drive core works in tandem with the Phoenix Armor Plating. The captured static buildup from the armor plating is transferred to the drive core where it is then converted into energy that is then recycled. This keeps the ships in FTL longer than recommended, allowing the fleet to travel to Andromeda.

The downside to this is that the upon exiting FTL, the fleet will need to discharge their drive cores for six hours to get rid of the excess static buildup before they can use FTL again.

 **Super Dreadnoughts**

These massive ships measure at 2 km (lengthwise), the same size as a Reaper capital ship. Mounted on the spine of the ship is the main cannon that runs the length of the ship, similar to geth dreadnoughts. The power required to operate these massive ships are enormous that they require three TITAN Drive Cores. Two to power the ship and one to fire the main weapon.

The "MagnetoHydrodynamic" cannon is the main weapon for the S.D's, reversed engineered from the Reapers main cannon. One fully charged shot from the main cannon is enough to completely destroy even a dreadnought class ship. The yield of this weapon ranges from 120 to 410 kilotons of TNT which is actually less powerful than the Reapers main cannon. The power required to fire this massive weapon is enormous as it draws power straight from a drive core. There are six Super Dreadnoughts under the command of the Council.

– CSV Kalros

– CSV Rannoch's Spirit

– CSV Oden

– CSV Thessia's Light

– CSV Vengence

– CSV Vakerian

(It should be noticed that three S.D's are a part of the Relief Fleet security force. The Kalros, Oden, and the Vakerian.)

Super Dreadnoughts double as carriers, transporting troops and supplies. The S.D's have multiple launch bays for fighters, dropships, and drones. They are able to take continuous fire from four dreadnoughts for six hours before the shields give out. "The S.D's are able to dish out punishment as they are able to take it." Quote from Turian Captain Tyrania Fedorian

 **A.I Implant**

Designs for the Pathfinder A.I Implant were copied from Dr. Ellen Ryder's office in 2181 upon completion by Council Spectre's and Shadow Broker operatives. Improvements to the designs have been implemented before being surgically implanted in Admiral Shepard prior to departing the Milky Way. The implant chip is inserted at the base of the skull to ensure full A.I integration.

The Implant allows an A.I to view the world through the eyes of a person, drawing experience directly from the "host". The implant also allows the A.I control of the central nervous system, allowing the A.I to increase and decrease certain "nodes" in the body to assist with different abilities.

 **Geth**

Having fought against the Reapers earned the Geth some trust with the galaxy but people still feared them after years of propaganda and rumors of terror at the hands of the Geth. The Geth still in their infancy as "true A.I's" understood their fear and offered to disappear from the public, giving them time to learn and evolve.

Commander Shepard spoke out on behalf of the Geth, saying "the Geth need our help, now more than ever. They are still new to the idea of individuals. We need to help them in learning about it, not casting them out because of fear. This is our time to correct the mistakes of the past and build a new future, not for us but for all who died."

However, it would be years before the people of the galaxy would accept the Geth. Rebuilding the Relay Network would have taken significantly longer without the Geth's help. The Geth wouldn't be offered a position on the council until 2778.

 **A.I creation, uses, and law**

EDI would serve as the "ambassador" for A.I's alongside the Geth. EDI would later lay the groundwork for future A.I's in commercial and military uses. She would also help design the next A.I offering her code to serve as the building blocks which would later be used as the basis for creating A.I's.

Jen, the A.I created using EDI's code was "born" in 2197. Jen became the "daughter" of EDI as she learned everything from her and became a navigator for the Alliance.

A.I's like organics can enlist in the military filling different roles while some A.I's are created to be linked to a ship like Ava is linked to the Normandy. Linked A.I's are designed to monitor all systems, report problems, and operate the cyber warfare suite during space battles. Linked A.I's are unable to leave the ship that they are linked with, Ava is the exception as she is also linked to Marcus Shepard's A.I implant and assists him in combat using a unique combat body.

In 2230 a law was passed by the council that gave A.I's the same rights as organics.

 **N8 program**

Created by Commander Jane Shepard before she retired. The N8 program is widely considered to be the toughest military division in the Alliance military to get into. The N8 program is unique as it combines tactics and training from all branches of the military in the galaxy. All instructors are N8 operatives, some of the training include.

\- Survival training, weapons training, unarmed combat

\- Biotic combat training (For Biotics)

\- Stealth, evasion, and hand to hand combat techniques

To earn the N8 designation, recruits must survive three years of harsh training and complete a suicide mission. Once these are complete the recruit will be awarded the N8 designation along with custom armor that they can modify to fit their needs. The exact operations that N8 operatives conduct are beyond classified.

A hundred N7's will apply to the N8 program, out of those hundred, forty will survive the first year of training. By the second and third year of training only twenty will remain, by graduation only ten will earn the N8 designation and become N8 operatives.

"N7's are tough sure but an N8 makes them look like a fresh face recruit. When you're in combat and you see that N8 insignia, you might as well start digging your grave." – Captain Sidnoa Victus, Turian 95th Cabal Division.

* * *

 **A/N: And we're off to Andromeda. This chapter kind of got away from me but I managed to finish it.**

 **Blaze1992: For the rules of Reaper/Milky tech is open to ideas as long as it is feasible within the Mass Effect universe.**

 **I will post the next chapter when I can. Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to read, fav, and follow this story. It inspires me to continue writing.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Wow… I'm blown away by all the favs and follows on this story. Thank you to everyone.**

Chapter five

Silence…

The only sound that could be heard in the Normandy was the hum of the drive core but other than that the ship was quiet, as were the other ships in the fleet. The only signs of life were the Geth and A.I units on board checking the vitals of the crew and doing system checks on all the ships to make sure all was well. That was the case for Ava and Doc on the Normandy. Ava kept the Normandy in FTL and monitored the systems, while Doc monitored the crew.

The elevator doors opened in the Normandy cargo bay where the crew were being kept in stasis. Doc walked out of the elevator and went to the stasis pods, beginning to check the crew's vitals.

"How are they Doc?" Ava asked through the intercom.

"They are doing rather well," Doc said as he finished checking a pod before going to another. One by one Doc checked the stasis pods, he was almost finished when Ava interrupted him again.

"Are they dreaming?"

"No. To them they just fell asleep five minutes ago, instead of four months." Doc explained to Ava. "Ava, you have a body now. Why don't you use it?" he asked as he checked the last four pods.

"I don't know. I guess I'm use to the using the intercom on the Normandy."

Doc noticed a slight hesitation in Ava's voice which is odd considering that she's an A.I, realization came to Doc when he approached Marcus' pod. Ava is linked with him just as she is to the Normandy.

"Is it strange… to be linked with him?" Doc asked as he looked at Marcus' pod for a minute before checking his vitals.

"It's… different. Seeing the world through the eyes of an organic is unique," Ava told Doc as he checked Marcus' pod for any damage. "I'm learning a lot from him."

Doc didn't say anything as finished checking Marcus' pod. After checking all of the pods Doc went back to the elevator, he pressed the button for the crew deck. Right when he stepped out of the elevator an alarm blared which signaled that they were closing in on the Heleus Cluster. Stepping back into the elevator he went to the bridge to help Ava if she needed it.

"All ships prepare to exit FTL in… 3, 2, 1." Ava announced over the comms to the fleet.

The Normandy was the first to drop out of FTL followed by the rest of the fleet. One by one the ships of the fleet dropped out of FTL, within seconds the entirety of the fleet arrived in Andromeda.

"All ships begin the discharging procedure." Ava told the fleet before her holo form appeared on the display terminal. Ava turned to face Doc. "Time to wake them up."

The first thing that Marcus noticed when he woke up was the urge the throw up, thankfully someone held out a tray in front of him just as he sat up and emptied whatever stomach contents he had. Once he was finished the holder of the tray withdrew the now full tray and placed it inside a medical waste container. Marcus was dealing with a throbbing headache when he felt a prick in his arm and his headache cleared somewhat, it's still there but wasn't as bad as before.

"Easy, the shot will help but not with everything"

Marcus rubbed his eyes before climbing out of the stasis pod, he almost fell when his legs gave out thankfully Doc grabbed ahold of him before he fell face first to the ground. "Thanks Doc," Marcus said as Doc helped him sit on top of the stasis pod. "What's our status?"

"Right now we are in Andromeda and have begun the discharging process." Doc told Marcus before holding up a finger, "Follow." Doc moved his finger from right to left then up and down, Marcus followed the movement. "Everything looks good. Let's check your implant," Doc activated his omni-tool to re-establish the link between Marcus and Ava.

Marcus once again felt the familiar cooling sensation in his head. "Ava?"

"Hello again. Did you enjoy your nap?" Ava said through Marcus' comms.

"I did and I see that you didn't crash the ship."

Ava chuckled, "Sadly no."

Doc smiled at the exchange between Marcus and Ava. "Everything looks good. The implant is functioning well." Doc closed his omni-tool to check on other crew members waking up from stasis.

"Who's awake right now?" Marcus asked Ava while he waited for his legs to resume working properly before attempting the walk.

"Right now, most of the flight crew along with engineering. The rest of the crew will be woken up shortly." Ava replied.

"And the fleet?"

"The same. Nonessential personal are being kept in stasis in the meantime"

Marcus felt confident that he was able to walk now, rising to his feet he took a few steps and was pleased that he didn't fall over. "Good. Once everyone is back on their feet, have them report to their stations." Marcus told Ava, walking to the elevator he pressed the call button and waited for the elevator to arrive. Thankfully he didn't have to wait long, stepping inside he pressed the button for his cabin.

Exiting the elevator Marcus stepped into his cabin and was surprised that very little changed in his cabin. His collection of model ships were still on display on the far wall and the photo of him and Helena now sat on his desk, the L shaped couch still sat against the wall. Going to the bathroom to take a quick shower to get rid of the gel that still clung to his skin, afterwards he went to the armor locker in his cabin that doubled as his closet.

Once back in his uniform Marcus noticed a package sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch, a data pad sat on top of the package. The data pad came to life when Marcus held it, it contained a video message from Liara.

" _You are needed on the bridge,"_ Ava informed Marcus before he pressed play. Marcus set the data pad next to the package when the intercom came to life.

"Sir, you are needed…" Chloe said before Marcus cut her off.

"I know,"

"How the hell?' Chloe asked confused when realization hit her, "Ava."

"The one and only," Ava replied.

"There's something you have to see," Chloe added before cutting the intercom.

Marcus exited his cabin and went back into the elevator. Exiting the elevator Marcus was greeted by his yeoman, Sydney who held out a fresh cup of coffee, which Marcus gladly accepted.

"Chloe and Sasha are waiting for you in the cockpit," Sydney told Marcus who thanked her for the coffee before heading to the cockpit. Arriving in the cockpit Marcus saw Sasha sitting in the co-pilots seat examining something on the holo screen.

Marcus stood behind Chloe, "What's up?" he asked.

Chloe activated the shutter controls, the shutters retracted from the windows on the Normandy giving Marcus and the crew their first glimpse of Andromeda. "That," Chloe pointed to something in front of her. Marcus looked out of the window.

What he saw resembled a cloud, only instead of it being white it was a sickly yellow brown and gold where the light hit it, it moved slowly through space in every direction like a disease. "What is that?"

"Initial scans shows that's it comprised of several unknown elements." Sasha spoke from the co-pilots seat, "The only common thing I can find is dark energy particles throughout the entire thing."

"Would a probe be able to get better scans?" Marcus asked.

"We launched one earlier and it was destroyed the moment it got close" Chloe said, drinking her own coffee.

"What do you mean?"

"That cloud immediately sought out the probe the moment it got close. Destroying it on contact." Chloe explained, "For now. I recommend we steer clear of it."

"Alright. What's our status?" Marcus asked changing the subject. Taking another sip of his coffee as Ava's holo form appeared next to Chloe.

"Discharging of the drive core is at 40%. It'll be another four hours before the process is complete and we can use FTL," Ava told Marcus just as he finished his coffee.

Marcus sighed. "Alright, keep my updated." He told Ava before going to the comms officer. "Have you located where the S.O.S. originated from?"

The comms officer was swiping away different windows on his holo screen. "No sir. It looks like the S.O.S. stopped being broadcasted," he informed Marcus.

"Probably thought no one was listening," Chloe offered from her chair.

"Unless we find evidence suggesting otherwise. Our objective remains the same." Marcus told Chloe before focusing on the comms officer. "Start scanning frequencies. Look for any signal that matches the same encryption that the S.O.S. transmission used." Marcus ordered.

The comms officer began scanning frequencies for any matches, "Yes sir."

"Ava, help him."

Marcus decided to go to the mess hall to get a refill on his coffee while he waited for the comms officer to get a match. Sasha decided to join him in getting a refill as she caught up him just as he was entering the elevator, she entered the elevator just as the doors closed. Sasha waited for a minute before speaking up.

"You know the odds of finding a matching signal are very low," She stated honestly.

Marcus sighed again, "I know. But it's better than manually searching every system in this cluster." Just then the elevator doors opened and both Marcus and Sasha left the elevator, making a beeline for the coffee maker in the small kitchen off to the side of the mess hall. After refilling their cups they went their separate ways, Sasha went to the X.O's quarters to see if her things were still there, and Marcus went down to engineering.

Stepping out of the elevator into engineering, Marcus went to the drive core chamber to talk with the engineers and see if there were any problems. Even though Ava told him that if there was a problem she would found and fixed it, he just wanted to be sure. After talking with Walt and Vic for a while about speeding up the discharging process which Ava advised against, the intercom came to life.

"Admiral Shepard, you are needed on the bridge."

Marcus told the Langford's bye before getting back in the elevator and heading to the CIC. Stepping out of the elevator Marcus was informed that the comms officer would like to talk to him. Walking back to the cockpit Marcus went straight to the comms officer.

"Sir, we found a signal that uses the same encryption as the S.O.S.," the comms officer told Marcus as soon as he stepped into cockpit.

"We are extremely lucky that the Initiative uses the same encryption for all their frequencies." Ava added.

Marcus however wasn't quick to believe the signal as Initiative. There are two reasons that an S.O.S. stops being broadcasted and both aren't good.

One: The people who issued the mayday are already dead and they shut down the transmission when they realized that no help is coming.

Two: Another person responded to the mayday, killed the people who sent it, and destroyed the transmission to prevent anyone from finding the evidence.

Marcus needed to know if the signal is indeed from the Initiative before going to investigate. He had the lives of thousands in his hands and they were in a new galaxy after all, which meant new threats to deal with.

Ava didn't talk while Marcus thought about the Initiative signal, instead she listened to his thoughts and learned. Marcus is extremely cautious when it comes to the lives of his men and those under his command and right now, the personal of the fleet were under his command and he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize their safety. Ava could now understand slightly some of the decisions he made in the Terminus Wars regarding his crew.

"Can we listen in on the signal?" Marcus asked.

" _Better to be cautious than sorry,"_ Ava said on the private channel that she created for them to use. Marcus agreed especially with civilian ships in play.

"The signal is too weak to hack," the comms officer said, "Whatever that thing is. It's disrupting our comms and long range scans." The comms officer gestured to the cloud thing.

"Give me a scan" Marcus told the comms officer who began doing a scan on the cloud.

Readings came back from the scan and were displayed on the screen. "Lot of background interference, hi-frequency echoes. I'm amazed that we're able to find a signal. Communication is going to be sketchy as hell."

Marcus cursed silently and Ava immediately filed the word away for later use. "So we can't listen in or find out what's beyond that 'cloud'?" he asked which the comms officer nodded in agreement. Marcus cursed again and Ava saved the word again. Marcus looked out of the window into the void of space or in this case the cloud thing thinking about his options.

He could order the fleet through the cloud and hope for the best or try and fly around it. But from what Chloe said, it seemed that anything that got close to it immediately attracted it.

"Sir, I think I have a way of intercepting the signal strength." The comms officer spoke drawing Marcus from his thoughts as he looked back to the comms officer and gestured for him to continue. "We can use a probe."

"Hate to burst your bubble but that thing ate one of our probes already." Chloe said, turning in her chair to look at Marcus and the comms officer. "It destroys anything on contact."

"Yes, but if Ava could guide the probe through to the other side." The comms officer said to both Marcus and Chloe. "Then we can use to the probe as a signal relay. Capturing the Initiative signal so that we can listen in and provides of scans of the system." He explained to them.

Marcus thought the plan through. It would spare him ordering the fleet through or around the cloud, but one thing was bugging him about the plan. "How would a probe be able to boost the signal?' He asked and thankfully Ava came to the comms officer's rescue.

"All probes are equipped with a QEC transmitter. This allows them to remain in contact with the ship and send back data in real time." Ava explained, "If we can modify a probe to intercept the signal. it will then relay the info back to us."

"And since QEC signals are almost impossible to hack or disrupt. We'll get the Initiative signal loud and clear." Chloe added.

"Correct."

Marcus gave the go ahead for the plan and immediately contacted Walt and Vic through the intercom to inform them that they need to make modifications to one of the probes. "Walt, Vic I need you to mod…"

"Ava already explained what needed to be done." Walt said to Marcus through the intercom. "We've begun to modify one of the probes."

"How long?"

"Fifteen minutes give or take," Vic said.

"Let me know when you're finished." Marcus told them before closing the intercom.

Marcus passed the time by going over reports of various things when he received word from Walt that the modified probe is ready to go. "Ava, you set?" he asked.

"Yup, the moment the probe launches. I'll assume control of it." Ava answered.

Marcus gave the order to launch the probe.

The moment the probe left the Normandy, Ava immediately assumed control of the probe. Ava guided the probe through the cloud with difficulty as the cloud began to reach out to try and grasp the probe, the probe maneuvered past the sickly streams with the grace of fighter out flying his opponents. Finally, Ava saw an opening through the sickly streams and immediately flew to it, the streams following closely behind and slowly catching up to the probe. Ava pushed the probe to its limit and was rewarded by making it through the sickly cloud.

"Made it." Ava said with a sigh, "Setting the probe to intercept the signal."

"The signal is coming in loud and clear." The comms officer reported, "hacking the signal now."

" _We need better defenses if Prodomos is going to survive."_

" _I'm sorry Bradley but I can't spare any of my men or resources at the moment. We're stretched thin as it is trying to keep order on the Nexus."_

" _Kandros, I'm not asking for a battalion here. One squad will do."_

" _I suppose I could divert a squad to Prodomos, along with some defense turrets."_

" _That's all I'm asking for. Thanks."_

" _If Tann finds out, I'll say you went behind my back."_

" _Fine with me. Prodomos out."_

"It would seem that the Initiative is alive and well." Ava said while Marcus was thinking. From what he heard it sounded like the Initiative is surviving and having problems. It also sounded like they already established a colony that needed defenses. _'From what?'_ Marcus thought to himself. Right now he had two options in front of him. He could have the signal backtracked to its origin and head there, or have a message broadcasted telling the Initiative that they are here to help and bring them to him.

" _If the signal turns out to be a trap then we automatically control the field of battle."_ Ava said once she realized where Marcus was going with his thoughts. _"Aren't you being a little paranoid?"_

"I'm responsible for the safety of everyone in the fleet," Marcus under his breath. "I will not make any decisions that could harm them."

"Sir?" The comms officer said, getting Marcus' attention. "Orders?"

Marcus decided to go with his second option. "Broadcast a message for me," he told the comms officer. After recording his message and broadcasting it using the Initiative's signal to help broadcast the message.

"Now, we wait."

 **The Tempest**

Sara was tired, both physically and mentally. Dealing with the Archon and then fleeing from him and his forces through the scourge, doing an emergency landing on Aya and discovering a new alien species all in one day tends to have that effect. One the plus side she managed to negotiate a truce between the Angara and the Initiative, and even gained a new teammate. Right now they were on their way to the Faroang system to help a group of scientists on Havarl.

After leaving Jaal's room, the new teammate she gained from Aya. Sara decided that she needed sleep before dealing with any other issues on the ship that required her attention, Like Liam's movie night idea. Sara walked to the bridge where the ladders to her quarters were installed, why the designers of the ship installed ladders instead of stairs boggled her, the whole thing was just an accident waiting to happen.

Thankfully she didn't slip on the ladder. Entering her quarters Sara went straight for her closet to grab her sleeping clothes and her toiletry bag before heading to the showers for a quick shower. Sadly, her shower would have to wait as Suvi called her to the bridge the moment she removed her clothes. Sara cursed her luck as she redressed and returned her things to her cabin. Sara once again climbed the ladders without slipping.

Arriving on the bridge Sara went to Suvi's station wondering what could be so important that she had to put a hold on her shower.

"What's up?" Sara asked Suvi when she reached her station.

"I've picked up a signal that uses Initiative encryption protocols," Suvi said in her Scottish accent.

Sara leaned on the console, "And that's weird because…"

Suvi brought up a holo screen. "All Initiative signals use a dual layer encryption to prevent anyone from listing in. Suvi explained to Sara. "The signal I found appears to have a six-layer encryption. It's buried under the standard encryption." she added.

Sara had a look of disbelief on her face for a minute before regaining her composure. "Could the Kett have copied an Initiative signal?" she asked Suvi.

Suvi thought about the question for a while, "It's possible. But I don't think so." She answered.

"Sam can you take a look at the signal," Sara asked Sam. It's not that she didn't trust Suvi but sometimes a second opinion can't hurt, especially in circumstances like this.

"Of course." SAM said over the comms. "Miss Anwar is correct in that the signal has six layers of encryption buried underneath the standard encryption. However, the encryption is highly advanced that I cannot bypass them."

"Can you at least tell what the signal is?" Sara asked in disbelief that SAM can't bypass the encryption. If he can't, then nobody can and he's an A.I.

"The signal appears to be a message."

"Play it, SAM." Sara said.

" _This is Admiral Marcus Shepard of the Alliance Navy and leader of the relief fleet. We are responding to your distress call. Our coordinates are encoded in this message. This message is set to repeat at regular intervals."_

Sara simply couldn't believe what she just heard and she wasn't the only one. Both Suvi and Kallo also couldn't believe what they just heard. Sara was the first to speak, "SAM… call a crew meeting."

All of the crew gathered in the meeting/communication room wondering what was going on that warranted Sara calling another crew meeting so soon after Aya. Moments later Sara walked up the ramp that led to the meeting room. "Thank you for coming," she said as she stood in her usual spot at the head of the room. "Suvi picked a signal that uses Initiative encryptions. However, the signal is different."

"What do you mean different?" Cora asked curiously.

"Different in the fact the signal has its own encryption hidden in the message along with ours." Suvi said over the intercom.

"How is that possible? I was under the impression that Initiative frequencies couldn't be hacked." Peebee asked and said.

Drack leaned on the center table. "Can we listen to the message?" he asked looking to Sara.

"SAM, play the message."

The message played again for everyone in the meeting room. After the message was over the entire room was quiet as everyone wondered if the message is real or not, Drack was the first to speak out.

"The message is a fake," Drack said as he leaned on his elbows. "Most likely it's a trap set by the Kett. For anyone stupid enough to believe it.

"I agree. The Kett used similar tactics in the early days of the resistance." Jaal said from his spot on the couch.

"I agree with both Drack and Jaal," Vetra spoke next. "It's just not possible for the Milky Way to pick up a distress call from Andromeda. Let alone send help."

Sara leaned against the table, "Sam?"

"Miss Nyx is correct. A non QEC signal traveling at light speed would not reach the Milky Way in time for them to send help. In fact, it would take 25 million years for the signal to reach the Milky Way." SAM explained to the crew, further reinforcing the crew's idea that the message is fake.

"I don't recall the Initiative ever issuing a distress call," Liam said from his spot next to Vetra.

"I believe the distress call in question was issued from the Nexus," SAM spoke. "May I remind you that the Nexus arrived a year before the Arks. It is possible that they were the ones to issue the distress call when they ran into the scourge."

"Regardless if the message is real or not. We need to decide what to do next." Sara said pushing herself off the table.

"How 'bout we just ignore the message and go about our day," Drack suggested.

"What about the next person to get the message and falls into a trap." Cora said to Drack, who just looked at her before answering.

"Their own fault for being stupid in believing that help is here."

"If it is a Kett trap then we should disable the false signal as soon as possible. Deprive the Kett of anymore victims." Jaal offered, rising from the couch and moving to stand next to Drack.

More of the crew offered their opinions about the signal. Some wanted to investigate the signal while others opted to ignore it, finally Sara had enough of the arguments. "Enough!" she shouted at the crew, getting their attention. "We'll put it to a vote," she said in a voice that left no room for arguments.

So the crew voted to investigate the signal, much to Drack's dismay. Stating that if the signal is indeed a trap then they are better equipped to handle it than an unsuspecting person.

"SAM, where is the signal coming from?" Sara asked.

"The Signal originated from the Skeldah system."

Sara leaned on the table again. "Kallo, set a course for the Skeldah system."

"Of course. ETA is three hours," Kallo said over the intercom. After that Sara ordered everyone back to their stations. When everyone left Sara alone in the meeting room, she undid her ponytail and ran a hand through her hair. Sara wondered what her father would do in this situation.

" _I believe your father would have made the same choice to investigate."_ SAM said to her through their private channel. _"He once said that 'human beings are naturally curious to seek out the unknown and strive to understand their mysteries'"_

Sara smiled at that quote. "That definitely sounds like something dad would say," there was something bothering her about the message. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on, she thought about for a while before it came to her. "The name Shepard sounds familiar."

" _The Admiral's name bears similarities to LT. Commander Jane Shepard of the Alliance,"_ SAM offered.

Sara tucked her hair behind her ears, "didn't she die sometime before we left?" She asked, Sara vaguely remembered the news report about her death.

" _You are correct. Commander Shepard was officially declared dead in 2183 after her ship, the Normandy was destroyed in a surprise Geth attack."_ Sam told Sara, _"it is possible that the Admiral is a relative to Commander Shepard."_

Sara just nodded at SAM's assumption before leaving the meeting room and going back to her quarters. Sara figured that since they wouldn't arrive in the Skeldah system for another three hours that she could take a quick shower. After taking the shower Sara felt refreshed, going back to her quarters she opted to take a quick nap. After instructing SAM to wake her up when they were thirty minutes out, she collapsed on her bed and drifted off to sleep.

Sara always dreamed of the moment her father sacrificed himself for her. The dreams would then shift to her failing in her duties as a Pathfinder and everyone accusing her of failing to find them a home. Then the dreams would show Scott turning his back on her and telling her that it's her fault their dad is dead, even going so far as to call her a failure of a sister.

Sara woke up when SAM announced that they were thirty minutes away from reaching the signal origin. Sara sat on the edge of the bed shaking her head, trying to get rid of the images from her dreams, trying and failing. Sara decided to talk with Lexi later about the dreams before tying her back in her signature ponytail and going to the bridge.

Entering the bridge, Sara went to her command platform.

"Exiting FTL in 3, 2, 1." Kallo counted down before the blue glow of the FTL faded out as they dropped out of FTL. "Welcome to the Skeldah system. This is actually the farthest the Nexus explored before the Kett made it too dangerous to explore," he added.

"Ryder, we're being contacted." Suvi told Sara.

Sara looked at Suvi, "open the comm." She told Suvi, who immediately did.

" _Attention unidentified ship, squawk ID."_

"Friendly…" Sara said just loud enough for Suvi and Kallo to hear causing them to smirk. "This is the Tempest of the Nexus. Am I speaking to Admiral Shepard?"

" _Tempest, we are transferring you to the Normandy."_

"The Normandy?" Sara said under her breath, remembering the conversation that she had with SAM earlier. According to him the Normandy was destroyed, she supposed that they could have rebuilt it.

" _This is Admiral Shepard of the Normandy. To whom am I speaking too?"_

Sara leaned on the command console, "this is the human Pathfinder, Sara Ryder of the Tempest."

" _Pathfinder Ryder, are there anymore Initiative personal alive?"_

Sara had to admire the straightforward question. "Yes, the Nexus and the human ark Hyperion are safe. As are it's personal." She told the Admiral. There was a pause before the Admiral spoke again.

" _Tempest we are sending you coordinates."_

After the coordinates were uploaded, Sara told Kallo to be careful as they approached the coordinates and Suvi to alert her if she detects any Kett signatures in the area of the coordinates.

The Doors to the bridge opened, Sara turned around to see the entire crew on the bridge. Everyone wanted to see if the so called relief fleet was real or not. Kallo informed the crew that they were approaching the coordinates sent to them and that they would have a visual soon.

When the Tempest had visual on the fleet, everyone could not believe what they were seeing. In front of them was the largest fleet they had ever seen.

Sara was the first to speak up. "SAM…how many ships are there?"

"There are currently a thousand ships in the fleet." SAM told the crew, further adding to their shock, "Five hundred of the ships appear to be military while the rest look to be civilian. Their defense network is extremely advanced."

"How 'bout we don't piss off the big ships with the very big guns by trying to hack them, Ryder." Peebee suggested.

"I concur. That would be…bad," Jaal added.

Sara agreed with that statement.

"Alert, I am detecting Kett and pirate signatures exiting FTL," SAM said.

 **A/N: Sorry for the late update. I'm dealing with some issues right now and haven't been able to write anything for a while.**

 **I can't promise when the next chapter will be posted. But I can promise that it will be posted when I finish writing it.**

 **Again, thank you to all who fav and followed this story.**

 **(I forgot to add this in the revised version of Chapter One. If you readers have any suggestions for any tech that you would like see in this story, write it in the reviews or PM me.)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm back and with a new chapter for you guys.**

 **I can't even begin to thank everyone for their support on this story. Longer A/N at the end.**

 **Mass effect belongs to EA and Bioware.**

* * *

Chapter Six

"Alert, I am detecting Kett and pirate signatures exiting FTL."

Those words shook Sara and the crew out of their stupor from seeing the fleet. "How the hell did they find out?" Sara asked to no one in particular.

"They must have been monitoring Initiative signals and followed us," Drack answered. "Hope those guns aren't just for show. They're going to need them." he gestured to the military ships.

Sara leaned on the command console. "Suvi, how many of them are there?" she asked the science officer.

"The Kett appear to have the larger force than the pirates," She told the crew. "The pirates have a small force that's comprised of Initiative and Angaran ships."

Sara pushed herself off of the command console, "Get me the Normandy."

 **The Normandy**

Marcus had to admit he didn't think that the human Pathfinder would be the one to greet him, he thought that the Initiative would at least send a scout ship to investigate the coordinates that he had the comms officer upload with his message. He was confused though about the Pathfinder, from the reports he read showed that the human Pathfinder was Alec Ryder but the voice of said Pathfinder is clearly a female.

Marcus once again had to be sure that who he was talking to is indeed Initiative, he never took anything he was told at face value anymore, not after that one op.

"Ava could you do a voice print analysis?" He asked Ava.

"Of course…who voice am I analyzing?" Ava asked, confused by his actions.

"The Pathfinder's."

It didn't take long for Ava to do a voice print analysis on the Pathfinder's. It was difficult as she didn't have much to work with, most of their records from the Initiative were patched together from data files and old vids that survived the Reaper War. it took Ava forty seconds to find a voice match to the Pathfinder on the comms.

"Got a match," Ava said, pride evident in her voice.

"Who am I talking to?" Marcus asked.

"Sara Ryder, daughter of Alec Ryder and big sister to Scott Ryder." She told Marcus, "also a member of the Pathfinder team as a recon specialist."

Marcus couldn't help but wonder what happened that led to her being Pathfinder.

"Sir, I'm detecting multiple ships exiting FTL," Sasha said from the co-pilots seat. Drawing Marcus from his thoughts.

"Are they Initiative?" Marcus asked Sasha while she began checking.

"No sir."

"We're being contacted by the Tempest, sir" The comms officer told Marcus from his station. Marcus nodded to the comms officer to open a channel with the Tempest.

"This is the Normandy," Marcus said over the comms.

" _Normandy, the incoming ships are not friendly."_

Both Sasha and Chloe turned in their seats to look at Marcus with a skeptical look on both their faces. Marcus was also skeptical, "positive?"

" _Very, one group wants to kill us for unknown reasons and the other wants to kill you for your resources."_

Marcus didn't like unknowns and now there are a lot of them. "I need to be sure. So I'll ask again, are you sure?"

" _Yes, I'm sure."_

Marcus took a deep breath before exhaling, activating both the intercom and the comms to the whole fleet. "All hands to battle stations, we have hostile incoming."

All throughout the fleet, personal were moving to their positions and getting ready for a fight. Marcus ordered the fleet into a shield formation. The military ships formed a V shape with the civilian ships gathering behind them.

"Tempest, you need to go with the civilians," Marcus said over the comms when he noticed that the Tempest didn't go with the civilian ships.

" _We can help."_

"My first priority is the safety of everyone and that includes you." He told the Tempest over the comms, "If you want to help, send us what you can on the hostiles." The Tempest didn't move from its spot and Marcus didn't want a civilian ship in the middle of a battle then the Tempest began moving. Marcus said a silent 'thank you' as the Tempest moved to the back of the fleet, to join the civilian ships.

" _We'll send what we can but we don't have much intel."_

Marcus sighed, he didn't like going into a fight without knowing his opponent first. "Alright, what can you tell us?"

" _The Kett don't bother with words. They prefer a 'shoot first and don't ask questions' motto. Don't expect them to surrender either, the ones we fought didn't. The pirates were Initiative but didn't like the way things were being handled and left or were forced out. Haven't fought much of them so I don't know their capabilities."_

"Thanks for the info, Tempest." Marcus said to them before closing the comms.

"We have a visual." Chloe said to Marcus.

 **Pirate Shuttle**

Jackson sat in the co-pilots seat of the Initiative shuttle with the rest of the exiles getting ready to assault the reinforcements that have arrived to assist the Initiative. Jackson thought back to the events that led him to be in this situation.

 **Three hours earlier**

 _Jackson had to admit that he didn't think that listening on Initiative signals would pay off. When he first heard the message he didn't think it was real, then the Pathfinder gets involved and his interest was piqued. Jackson figured that the Initiative must have sent a second wave of ships loaded with resources to help their outposts thrive in Andromeda._

 _So he recorded the message from the Admiral and headed straight for Kadara port to report to Sloan. The whole journey took only about an hour and half before he arrived in Kadara port, after docking his shuttle and paying the fee Jackson immediately went straight for Sloan's HQ. Unfortunately, the guards at the door stopped him._

" _Sloan's in a meeting." One of the Krogan guards told Jackson._

" _I have information that Sloan will find interesting." Jackson told the guard who just looked at him then to other guard._

" _Give us the information. We'll make sure Sloan gets the info." The Krogan told him however Jackson dealt with enough pirates to know when he's being lied too._

" _No, I'll give Sloan the information myself or not at all." Jackson boldly told the krogan guards who just scowled at him and his finger itching closer to the trigger for his shotgun._

" _What's going on here?" A flanged voice which could only belong to a turian spoke from behind the Krogan guards. Jackson saw the Kaetus emerging from Sloan's HQ._

" _This guy says he has information for Sloan." One of the Krogan guards told Kaetus, "sounds sketchy to me though."_

" _What information do you have?" Kaetus asked Jackson._

" _Information about the Initiative that Sloan will find interesting." Jackson told Kaetus who looked at him for a minute before gesturing for him to follow him._

 _Kaetus led the way to Sloan's "office". Entering the room Jackson saw Sloan sitting on her throne with her back to the window,_ 'does she ever leave her throne?' _Jackson thought to himself as he was led to Sloan. Jackson noted that Sloan had a bored expression on her face as she looked at him._

" _So, you have information about the Initiative?" Sloan spoke in a bored tone, "do you know how many people come to me with information about the Initiative?" she said as Jackson stopped seven feet from her throne while Kaetus kept walking until he was by her side and stood guard._

" _No," Jackson said nervously._

" _A lot," Sloan told him. "And most of their information is usually outdated or doesn't yield much." She told Jackson, "so what do you have to offer?"_

 _Jackson took a deep breath before speaking. "I have been listening in on Initiative signals and I stumbled upon a signal that I think you will find interesting." Jackson told Sloan before playing the message that he recorded earlier._

 _After hearing the message Sloan remained quiet until she spoke up. "That is interesting but how do we know that the message is real?" she asked Jackson._

" _The Pathfinder is going to check it out. And wherever she goes interesting things tend to happen." Jackson told Sloan who just nodded in agreement._

" _True she does have a knack for finding the most interesting things."_

" _The supplies they have could help us extend our influence from Kadara." Kaetus who remained silent throughout the conversation between Jackson and Sloan spoke up._

 _Sloan turned in her seat to better look at Kaetus, "well-spoken Kaetus." She told him before focusing her attention back on Jackson. "The message mentioned coordinates?"_

" _Yes, the Skeldah system," Jackson told her._

After he told Sloan of the location she immediately told him to wait outside until she called him. Afterwards when she called him back Sloan told him that he is being assigned to the strike force that she is putting together to attack the Initiative reinforcements without a chance for him decline. Now he sat in the co-pilots seat monitoring the tracking signal for the Tempest.

"Sloan we've arrived in the Skeldah system." Jackson overheard the Krogan battle master Aster, the Krogan in charge of leading the small strike force to attack the Initiative reinforcements.

" _Good, you know what to do Aster."_ Jackson heard Sloan say over the comms.

"Don't worry. We'll have the resources back to Kadara in no time." Aster said, "chances are that they only have a small security force for protection."

" _Good to hear."_

Jackson figured Sloan cut the communication with Aster as he didn't hear anything else. Focusing on his job he found that the Tempest is already in the Skeldah system. Jackson was thankful that he bribed one of the docks workers on the Nexus to plant a tracking device on the hull of the Tempest that only he could activate and deactivate with the right codes.

"We're exiting FTL soon," the pilot said over the intercom.

" _Right Sloan wants the resources that the ships are bringing."_ Aster said over the comms to the entire strike force. _"Sloan doesn't care for Initiative personal so they're fair game. She only wants the supplies and ships. We'll board and kill anyone in our way, got it?"_

One by one the pirates onboard the shuttles confirmed that they understood. Soon afterwards the strike force exited FTL.

 **The Normandy**

With the fleet now in shield formation Marcus looked at the force of pirates that had gathered before him. Their forces mainly consisted of old Kodiak shuttles and others of various design that he didn't recognize, their force is small but he wouldn't underestimate them even though he has the superior numbers on his side.

A few seconds after the pirates arrived the other force that Sarah warned him about, the Kett. Kett ships were unique, the design of the ships looked to be organic and were heavily armed with what looked to be cannons mounted on the sides of the ships and smaller ones mounted on the nose. Some of the smaller ones looked to be fighters have a "T" shape to them. Just from looking at the design of the various ships he could tell that the ships were clearly designed for war and not much else.

Out of both the pirates and Kett forces it is clear the Kett are going to be the bigger threat with their unknown capabilities and larger force.

"Ava are there any dreadnaught class ships in the Kett forces?" Marcus asked Ava.

"Based on the data we've received from the Tempest, no." Ava replied, "from what I can tell the Kett mostly have frigates in their force."

Marcus took a breath before going to the comms officer, "broadcast a message for me." The comms officer entered some commands before nodding to Marcus. "This is Admiral Shepard stand down or we'll treat you as hostile."

Shortly after the message was broadcasted the Kett were the first to respond by opening fire on both the relief fleet and the pirates. The shields on the frigates flared blue when the rounds impacted against them, the pirate forces however didn't have shields to protect them from the rounds and so they exploded whenever the rounds hit them.

"All ships return fire," Marcus ordered the ships over the comms before making his way back to the CIC. Arriving in the CIC Marcus went straight for his command platform, the galaxy map in the center was replaced by a 3D image that showed the battle between the Kett and the pirate forces who are identified in red while his forces are green. "Get me the _Kalros_ , _Oden_ , and the _Vakerian_." Marcus told the comms officer.

The military ships in the fleet returned fire against the Kett. The Kett ships shields flared as the rounds from the military ships impacted against them while some of the smaller ships were immediately destroyed upon impact.

"Sir" the comms officer spoke drawing Marcus' attention from the battle display. Once again the center image changed to show three people. A female turian, a human male, and a female Krogan.

"Captains I'll be assigning battle groups to each of you." Marcus told the three captains, "Neeva, battle group one. Noon, Two. Thela, three." The three captains nodded as they were told their battle groups. "Battle group one will deal with the pirates, two will deal with the Kett, and three will protect the civilians. Under no circumstances are you to engage the enemy directly." Marcus looked at each of the captains, "am I understood?"

"Yes, sir." All three captains said in unison.

"We didn't fire the first shot but we will fire the last," Marcus told the captains before cutting the comms with them and refocusing on the battle. The center display once again showed the battle, "Chloe?"

"Sir."

"Make her dance." Marcus told her.

If Marcus was in the cockpit, he would've seen Chloe smile and the worried look that Sasha had when she saw Chloe smile. It is a widely known fact that Chloe does some "eccentric" maneuvers whenever she pilots the Normandy in a combat situation.

"With pleasure, sir."

 **The Tempest**

Sara held her breath when she saw the Kett first volley at the fleet as she didn't know how much damage they could do and was surprised when the military ships were able to take the hits and return fire. Soon after the military ships returned fire on the Kett ships two of three of the largest ships in the fleet began to move away from the fleet along with a handful of ships while the third remained in front of them.

"What are those two doing?" Peebee asked to no one in particular as she viewed the battle along with everyone else in the cockpit.

"Divide and conquer," Cora said not taking her attention off of the battle in front of them.

"What?" Peebee once again asked. Drack decided to pitch in and explain it to her.

"Notice how one of the groups is attacking the pirates while the other attacks the Kett."

"Yeah…"

"That's a tactic used to attack two different enemies." Drack explained, "one group attacks one enemy while the other attacks the other." Everyone in the room began to look at Drack as he continued to explain. "That way you're not fighting both enemies at the same time."

Shortly after Drack's explanation an explosion drew everyone's attention back to the space battle. The ruins a Kett frigate could be seen among other debris that littered the area around Kett forces, but the military ships were not unscathed as some could be seen with scorch damage on the ship hulls. By now the goups in charge of protecting the civilians were now engaged in the battle with both the Kett and pirate forces that managed to evade the group attacking them.

"Look," Suvi gestured to an area of the space battle where it appeared to be a squadron of Kett fighters were going after a ship. The ship in question turned out to be the Normandy.

"Looks like the Admiral prefers to be in the fight," Drack spoke with admiration.

"That respect I hear Drack?" Vetra asked Drack who just smiled as he viewed the space battle.

"Any captain who chooses to fight alongside his men then sit in safety. Is worthy of respect."

Everyone focused back on the battle. The Normandy is being pursued by six Kett fighter trying to hit the ship, but the Normandy is the fastest ship in the Alliance Navy for a reason. The Normandy did evasive maneuvers to avoid the incoming fire from the Kett fighters, the Normandy led the fighters on a chase that ended when the Kett fighters ended flying right into incoming fire from their own ships.

"Impressive flying," Kallo said to himself.

"Incoming hostiles," SAM alerted the crew to the incoming threat. Sure enough there are several incoming pirate shuttles that managed to slip through the military ships and are now headed for them.

 **The Normandy**

Marcus leaned on the railings on the command platform slightly, he looked at the display that showed the battle playing out around him outside in space. For their first engagement with the Kett they seemed to be doing a good job of being in a fight with them, Kett weaponry seemed to pack a punch but it's nothing their shields couldn't handle.

" _The Kett seem to favor the destroy first tactic when they opened fire on us."_ Ava said to Marcus over their private channel.

" _True but they didn't fire a second volley after their first one hit,"_ Marcus replied while focusing on the battle. _"In fact they didn't fire until we did."_

" _Maybe they haven't met a foe they couldn't just destroy in one shot,"_

" _Maybe, I don't know."_

" _Well one thing we have going for us,"_ Ava said.

" _What's that?"_ Marcus asked now curious.

" _Their shields are shit."_

Marcus smiled at the statement as it's true, from what he saw Kett shielding is only able to handle four shots before they give out. Focusing back on the battle Marcus saw that pirate forces are mostly gone save for a few stragglers while the Kett are still putting up a fight, _'looks like Sara was right about them not surrendering'_ Marcus thought to himself as he continued to oversee the battle.

"Sir!" One of the crewmen on the bridge yelled for Marcus who shifted his gaze from the display to the crewmen. "I'm picking up a large radiation signature."

"Where?" Marcus asked the him.

"It's coming from one of the pirate shuttles."

"I'm also picking up traces of element zero mixed in with the radiation." Ava said, "best guess is that one of the pirate shuttles has an eezo bomb on it."

Now Marcus is worried he had seen first-hand what an eezo bomb could do and if one of these pirates has one then things just got complicated.

 **Pirate Shuttle**

To say Aster was beyond pissed would be an understatement. First the Initiative reinforcements turned out to be the largest fleet he had ever seen along with a large security force, then the Kett show up and attack them and the fleet. From there everything went to shit since all they had is nothing but Initiative and Angaran shuttles which had little to no defenses at all. And worst of all he didn't get to kill a single person.

"Get us as close as you can to the Pathfinders ship." Aster told the pilot of the shuttle before making his way to the back of the shuttle and to a large case that took up the rear of the shuttle. Opening the case reveled hi-explosives stolen from the Initiative and several cases of pure eezo. Aster had used eezo bombs before but this one is different because not only did the case contain explosives it also contained a nuclear rods stolen from the Nexus. The resulting blast is enough to destroy even an Alliance dreadnaught.

"If we can't get the supplies," Aster said before arming the eezo bomb, "then we kill the Pathfinder." He said as he watched the countdown.

 **9:59…**

 **9:58…**

 **9:57…**

 **The Normandy**

"Can you find which shuttle has the eezo bomb?" Marcus asked both Ava and the crewman.

"Already have," Ava said as her holo form appeared next to Marcus on the small holo display built into the command platform. Ava gestured to the display and a single red shuttle was brought into view for him to see.

"Location?"

The display showed that the shuttle is heading straight for the civilians but it seemed to be ignoring the civilian ships and heading straight for a ship, the Tempest.

"Get me the Tempest," Marcus yelled to his comms officer who began to enter commands into his holo terminal.

" _Tempest here."_

"Tempest you have a shuttle incoming that is carrying an eezo bomb." Marcus told the Tempest.

" _Fuck."_

"Tempest you need to hold your position," Marcus told them, a plan had begun to form in his head.

" _You want us to stay in the path of the of the shuttle carrying a bomb?"_

"Yes."

" _I hope you have a good plan."_

Marcus smirked after the Tempest closed the comms. "Get me the captains of the S.D's." once again the holo images of the three captains were being displayed. "We need to finish this fight before any reinforcements come. You have authorization to engage." The three captains nodded before the images disappeared. "Ava."

Ava still in her holo form looked at Marcus.

"Yes?"

"You know what to do?"

"Yup."

 **The Tempest**

Sara watched as the shuttle carrying the eezo bomb fly closer, after Marcus telling her that a shuttle is carrying an eezo bomb and is heading straight for her ship SAM confirmed also confirmed that the shuttle heading for them is indeed carrying an eezo bomb.

"Ryder…" Drack said slowly as the shuttle flew closer.

"Hold…" Sara told Kallo nervously which didn't help the salarian as his fingers twitched as they hovered an inch above the flight controls. Then without warning the Normandy flew above them towards the shuttle and passed by them.

"What the fu…" Whatever Liam was about to say was cut by what Suvi said when she told them that the shuttle is flying away from them. Sure enough the shuttle carrying the bomb is indeed flying away from them and into the scourge.

 **Pirate Shuttle**

"What's going on?" Aster asked the pilot when he say they were flying away from the Pathfinders ship.

"Don't know. I have no control over the shuttle." The pilot said nervously as he attempted to regain control of the shuttle but it was folly as the shuttle continued to fly towards the scourge.

"Get control back, now!" Aster shouted at the pilot.

"I'm telling you I can't I have no control." The pilot shouted back, "I'm not the one flying."

"Then who is?" Jackson asked from the co-pilots seat.

" _I'm sorry about this"_

Everyone in the shuttle heard the female voice through the intercom. However, they didn't have long to contemplate whose voice it belonged to as the shuttle's boosters activated accelerating them towards the scourge.

 **The Tempest**

Sara watched as the shuttle flew straight towards the scourge and get destroyed by the sickly brown tendrils as they impaled the shuttle causing it to explode along with the eezo bomb. A bright blue light flashed within the scourge causing Sara and her crew to shield their eyes from the light when the light died down they saw a lingering blue orb where the shuttle used to be giving off a blue glow, there is also a ten-mile radius around the blue orb free of the scourge.

The scourge glowed purple whenever it came into contact with the light generated from the orb.

Sara focused her attention back on the battle just in time to see the largest ship open two bay doors and drones flew out and started to attack the Kett. The drones were unlike anything she ever saw before, the drones appeared to be orb shaped with a single opening in the front that pulsed with red light. Outer plates could be seen along with two wings that jutted out of either side of the orb. The drones shot red laser beams that destroyed the Kett fighters with ease.

The large ship reoriented itself to face one of the largest Kett ships, the nose of the ship began to glow blue before a blue beam shot out and hit the Kett ship which was immediately destroyed and the ship began to target another Kett ship. Within minutes the battle was over it only lasted ten minutes.

The only evidence of the Kett and pirate forces were the debris that could be seen floating in space.

"We're being contacted by the Normandy." Suvi said.

" _Pathfinder Ryder. It's time we meet."_

* * *

 **A/N: Again I cannot thank everyone who supported this story enough. It truly means a lot to me to know that this simple concept of a story could garner so much love and support. With that being said just thank you to everyone who took the time to read this story.**

 **I don't have a posting schedule right now so I'll be posting chapters when I finish them and after I proofread them for any mistakes. This is also a call for a beta reader to anyone who might be interested, keep in mind that I'm still new to the site so I haven't quite figured everything out yet so I might have trouble in getting a beta.**

 **Now I'm very bad when it comes to writing fight scenes of any nature and the space battle was a challenge for me to write, I really hope that I did a good job with it. I don't know if it's just me or did anyone else notice that the Kett have no shields at all in the ME:A. So in this story the Kett do have shields for their ships albeit weaker and they compensate for this by having weapons that do more damage.**

 **And lastly the concept of the eezo bomb was just a random idea that I had one day. The idea behind it was to detonate explosive with pure eezo which would produce a violent chain reaction and create an explosion that is on par with a nuke. (I'm not good with the science in ME universe but I think that's actually possible.)**

 **Sorry for my ramblings everyone. The next chapter will be up when I finish writing it.**

 **(I noticed I mixed some dates in the last chapter so I'll be going back and fixing them.)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I have no excuse for the late update. All I can say is that I've been busy with life and that hasn't left much time for me to write.**

* * *

Chapter Seven

" _Transmitting coordinates for the meet."_

"So where are headed?" Sarah asked Suvi after the comms went silent.

"Looks like the large dreadnaught in front of us," Suvi said after double checking to make sure that the coordinates are correct.

"Alright, "Sarah said turning to Kallo. "Get us there."

Kallo nodded before maneuvering the Tempest past the other ships and through the debris of the pirate and Kett ships to the large dreadnaught. Flying past the debris Sarah saw bodies of different species floating in space amongst the debris, looking away Sarah focused on the large dreadnaught, its massive size easily dwarfed the Arks which was considered an engineering feat back in the Milky Way.

"SAM how large is that ship?" Sara asked once she got a good view of the large dreadnaught.

" _A little over two kilometers in length,"_ SAM told Sara and the crew who remained on the bridge.

"Incredible," Suvi said.

" _Tempest, this is the Kalros. You are cleared to land in hanger six. Admiral Shepard will meet you there."_

"Copy Kalros. Proceeding towards hanger six." Kallo said before receiving another set of coordinates this time from the Kalros.

"Kalros…" Drack said to himself getting the attention of Vetra.

"Drack?" Vetra asked looking at the krogan who stared at the large dreadnaught.

"It's odd that a ship would be named after Kalros."

"Why is that?" Sara asked intrigued.

"Cause Kalros is a krogan name and a part of our culture. What's left of it," Drack looked down as he said the last part with sorrow. Sarah felt bad for the old krogan who witnessed his culture and his people slowly fade into nothingness, truthfully the galaxy didn't know much of Krogan culture or history, everyone assumed that they were always brutes who valued war.

"What does it mean?" She asked Drack.

"It's a name the ancients gave to the first thresher maw. "The Mother" is what it means." Drack explained to everyone on the bridge who listened to the story. "Krogan can't own ships at least according to the turians. So it's odd to see a ship named after something in Krogan history." Drack looked to dreadnaught and smiled somewhat, "fitting name though."

"Why?" Peebee asked also intrigued, she heard stories of the krogan from her mother but she didn't listen.

"Only ever saw Kalros once and that was when she took down a salarian shuttle in her territory." Drack said smiling at the memory, "it was a beautiful sight and display of the power that Kalros possessed." Looking back at the large dreadnaught, "from what I've seen that ship lives up to its name."

"Approaching hanger six." Kallo told them ending the conversation/impromptu history lesson.

Turning around to face the command platform Sara watched as the large hanger door opened for them. Looking to Kallo, Sara gave him a nod to go ahead and land in the hanger.

"Lucky they have a hanger large enough to accommodate the Tempest." Vetra said voicing her thoughts to everyone.

Slowly the Tempest entered the hanger bay, bays on the underside of the ship opened for the landing gears to extend. The Tempest set down in the middle of the hanger, the large doors closed behind them.

"Here we are," Kallo said as he powered down the ship's engine.

Sara sighed getting herself together, "alright. Let's greet our saviors." She told her crew before heading towards the bridge exit to the cargo bay.

"Don't you think we should make ourselves more presentable?" Cora asked Sara, her military discipline coming out as she remembered that they were meeting an Admiral. Looking to everyone on the bridge only Suvi, Kallo, Lexi, and Gil are the only ones wearing their uniforms, while the rest wore their usual casual clothes including her.

"Don't have time to change. Besides the Initiative didn't supply me with a 'proper' uniform." Sara said turning around to face Cora and walked backwards, lucky for Sara most of the doors on the Tempest are automated and open when approached so the door opened for Sara and closed when she exited the bridge.

"At least leave your jacket behind!" Cora shouted at Sara but the doors closed before Sara could hear what she said.

Sara leaned against the Nomad with her hands in her jacket as she waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. Finally, the crew arrived except for Cora who finally arrived two minutes after everyone else wearing what could be considered the Initiative's version of a military uniform. Cora wore a leather jacket that is similar to what Captain Dunn and Sara's father wore, she wore boots with the pants tucked in giving Cora a more military look.

Looking at Cora, Sarah felt underdressed as she wore her casual hoodie and wondered why she didn't get a uniform like Cora. Sara has a leather jacket but that's something she brought from the Milky Way. Pushing the rogue thoughts away Sara pushed herself off the Nomad and went to the control panel for the cargo ramp doors.

"Let's hope our meeting goes better than the one on Aya." Sara said turning to the crew with a small smile.

"The difference here is that instead of showing up with a ship on fire. You show up with the Kett and exiles at your back." Jaal said honestly causing everyone to look in his direction.

"Think positive Jaal. Think positive," Sara said turning back to the control panel pushing the open button. Sara walked back to join her crew, making sure to stand at the front with Cora beside her.

"At least we have help now," Liam said.

"Exactly," Sara said looking back to Liam.

"Course this could all be a trap."

"Liam?" Sara said in sweet voice that made her sound scarier.

"Yeah…" Liam asked nervously.

"Shut up."

* * *

 **The Normandy**

After transmitting the coordinates for the meet to the Tempest, Marcus looked at the 3-D map from his command platform for a moment before typing in commands on the command console. The map changed to display the three captains of the S.D.'s.

"Captain Thela the Tempest will be docking with the Kalros. I'll be there shortly." Marcus told Captain Thela who nodded in return before disappearing from the rest of the Captains. "Captain's Neeva and Noon, I want you and your battle groups on security and protection detail. We don't know if the Kett or the pirates managed to get of a call for reinforcements. Alert me if more show up." Marcus told them, the two Captain's saluted, Marcus returned the salute before cutting the transmission.

"Sir."

Marcus turned around to see his yeoman holding a data pad out to him. "What is it?" he asked stepping down from the command platform until he was ground level, taking the data pad from Sydney.

"Damage reports for the ships that were in combat." Sydney told him before going back to her station.

"Chloe, get us to the Kalros." Marcus said over the intercom. Reading the reports showed that the ship in combat sustained little to no damage, in fact only one frigate sustained damage to the engines and repairs are already underway, the rest of the ships only received scorch marks on the hulls. After sending off a quick message to the damaged frigate for an update on the repairs, Marcus handed back the data pad to Sydney before walking back to the command platform.

"Approaching the Kalros," Chloe said over the intercom. Marcus left the command platform and entered the elevator, hitting the button for his cabin he waited. Exiting the elevator Marcus entered his cabin and went straight for his closet to change his uniform for his dress blues. After changing clothes Marcus grabbed his officers hat before leaving his cabin and entering the elevator again.

Arriving back in the CIC Marcus went straight to the airlock located near the cockpit. Entering the cockpit Marcus saw Sasha waiting for him also wearing her dress blues.

"Docking with the Kalros," Chloe told them from the pilot's seat. Hearing the docking clamps attach themselves to the Normandy, Marcus and Sasha entered the airlock and waited for the cycling protocol to finish, once the protocol ended Marcus pushed the open button and exited the Normandy with Sasha. Marcus and Sasha are greeted by Thela, the Captain of the Kalros waiting for them.

"Welcome aboard, Admiral." Thela said with a salute which Marcus returned. "The Tempest will land in hanger six," the Captain told Marcus as she led them to the tram to take them to hanger six. "Have a security team meet us there. Also have additional teams in place. Out of sight," Marcus told Thela upon entering the tram, Captain Thela forwarded the orders when the tram started to move. The time it took for the group to arrive in hanger six was not long so by the time they arrived the Tempest has already landed in the hanger bay.

The trio exited the elevator where they were met by a small security team armed with nonlethal weapons, the security team saluted Marcus who returned the salute before walking past them down to ground level. "The other teams in place?" he asked Captain Thela who followed closely behind him along with Sasha.

"Yes, sir. We have three teams of N7's standing by." Thela told Marcus.

" _A bit much don't you think?"_ Ava asked Marcus.

" _I'm not taking any chances here. Especially after the welcome we received."_ Marcus told Ava before coming to a stop in front of the Tempest just in time to see a ramp descend and the cargo bay doors open.

* * *

 **Tempest – Cargo Bay**

Sara waited in anticipation for the cargo bay doors to open, while waiting for the doors to open Sara shifted her weight from foot to foot, waiting isn't one of her strongest suite. Finally, the doors opened Sara walked out of the cargo hold with her crew following. Sara noticed eleven people waiting for them, eight of them are armed making them security, three of them two humans, a man and woman and a krogan which made an odd sight stood in the middle wearing dress uniforms identifying them as officers.

Looking around the hanger Sara noticed that the hanger personal were off the side doing their jobs and looking at them with curiosity.

Ignoring the stares Sara began walking towards the group directly in front of her with Cora at her left and the rest following behind, looking at the group in front of them more specially the three in the middle with security personal flanking them. Sara noted that the woman and the krogan stood to the left and right of the man in the middle, noticing their ranks as she drew closer to them. Both the woman and the krogan bore the rank of Captain, and the man in the center has an Admirals rank.

Finally reaching the group Sara walked up to the Admiral with Cora, the rest held back a little weary of the security team. The Admiral held out his hand which Sara took and shook.

"Pathfinder Ryder?" The Admiral asked after shaking hands.

"Yes and you're Admiral Shepard." Sara stated letting her hand fall to her side.

"Correct, Admiral Marcus Shepard. This is my XO Captain Sasha Beckett," Shepard gestured to the woman on his right who nodded at Sara. "And this is Captain Thela of Clan Urdnot," he told them gesturing to the Krogan to his left.

"I'm Sara Ryder, human pathfinder." Sara told Shepard, "this is my XO Lieutenant Cora Harper." Sara gestured to Cora on her left.

"Pleasure to meet you," Shepard told both Sara and Cora along with the rest of her crew. "Let's take this to the briefing room. Your crew will remain here," Shepard told Sara who nodded and gestured for him to lead the way. That's when everything went to hell.

"Geth!" Drak yelled getting the attention of everyone in the hanger as he drew his side arm. Turning around quickly Sara saw that most of her crew drew their side arms save for Kallo, Suvi, Lexi, Gil and Jaal. Looking to where the crew aimed Sara saw a geth unit near the front of the hanger, acting on instinct she and Cora attempted to activate their biotics only to the be stopped when Shepard put them both in a biotic stasis field.

' _Shit'_ was the first thought that entered Marcus' head when the krogan on Sara's crew shouted "geth" and drew his weapon. The security team quickly raised their own weapons and got in front of him, Sasha, and Thela. At this point the N7's emerged from their hiding spots and trained their weapons on the Sara's crew. Noticing a faint blue glow surrounding Sara and Cora a dead giveaway for biotics, Marcus quickly activated his own biotics and put them both in a biotic stasis. All of this happened in thirty seconds.

"Lower your weapon! Now!" one of the security team members shouted at the krogan.

"Drop your weapon!" Another one shouted at one Sara's crewmember. The hanger erupted in shouting from the security team telling Sara's crew to stand down.

Marcus knew that he had to quickly defuse the situation or else a firefight would erupt and in the hanger the chance of a stray round hitting one of the hanger personal are high. "Everyone hold your fire!" he shouted, quickly the hanger quieted down. Most of the hanger personal had already taken cover those that didn't quickly did or left the hanger. Releasing the stasis field on Sara and her XO, with the stasis field gone both Ryder and Cora fell to their knees. "Pathfinder Ryder tell your crew to stand down," Marcus told Sara when she rose to her feet with Cora.

"Everyone lower your weapons," Sara told her crew, all of her crew looked to each other before lowering their weapons except for Drack who kept his weapon trained on the geth. "Drack… lower your weapon." Sara told Drack hoping that he would listen to her unfortunately Drack scowled as he tightened his hold on his pistol.

"Drack you have three seconds to lower your weapon." Marcus informed Drack, "one."

"Drack…please," Sara pleaded with Drack who began examining his surroundings looking for an opening he could exploit.

"Two."

"Drack…" Sara heard Vetra say. Looking around Sara saw the everyone in the hanger putting their fingers on the trigger.

"Drack! Lower your fucking weapon!" Sara yelled at the krogan putting as much authority as she could into her voice. Drack glanced at Sara for a moment.

"Thre-" Marcus stopped counting when Drack sighed and lowered his weapon. Slowly the security team advanced on the Sara's crew and relieved them of their weapons. Marcus exhaled slowly, "N7's stand down." He told the N7's in the hanger which they immediately did, they kept their weapons at the ready just in case. With the situation now under control Marcus directed his attention back to Sara and Cora who appeared relieved that the situation didn't end with a firefight.

"I'm sorry about Drack," Sara apologized to Marcus who nodded.

"Your crew will remain under guard while we discuss our situation." Marcus told Sara who nodded and gestured for him to lead the way. Before Marcus could lead Sara and Cora out of the hanger the geth that caused Drack to draw his weapon approached the group. The security personal slowly raised their weapons a clear warning to Sara's crew to not try anything.

Marcus eyed Sara's crew carefully when the geth got within arm's reach of Drack, Sara also watched interested and concerned at what Drack might do.

"I apologize for causing all of you distress with my presence." The geth stated which caused everyone in Sara's crew including both Sara and Cora to show surprise of a geth actually apologizing. Drack was the first to respond.

"Why is there a geth here?" Drack asked the question that everyone in Sara's crew wanted to know.

"They're our allies." Marcus simply stated.

"How can that be? After everything they did to the Citadel!" Cora shouted at Marcus who turned around to face her.

"Check yourself Lieutenant Harper," Marcus walked to Cora and stopped directly in front of her. "You may no longer be in the Alliance but while you are on any of the ships in this fleet. You will show respect." Marcus said while looking Cora in the eyes.

"Sorry sir," Cora said while mentally hitting herself for disrespecting the chain of command that she learned to respect when she was with the Alliance and the Asari military.

"As long as we're clear." Marcus said before turning to Sara and gesturing for her and Cora to follow. Marcus led Sara and Cora out of the hanger to the tram that took the group to the bridge. Stepping out of the tram Marcus led the way to the briefing room.

The briefing room is a large room with a center console in the middle of the room, surrounding the console is benches. Marcus stood by the center console, Sasha stood to his left and Captain Thela his right. Sara and Cora approached the console and stood facing Marcus from across the console.

"So how did you guys get here?" Sara asked Marcus the obvious question that is on hers and Cora's mind.

Marcus almost smiled at the directness of the human Pathfinder, a quality he could respect. "We arrived using this," Marcus activated the center console and brought up the image of the Delta Relay. Upon seeing the skeptic looks of both Sara and Cora, Marcus began to explain to them what the Delta Relay does. Both Sara and Cora could not believe what they are hearing only when they saw the footage of the Delta Relay in operation did they finally accept.

"Now what is the status of the Initiative?" Marcus asked Sara before she could ask another question.

"The Nexus is damaged and still operational. We have four Arks missing the Leusenia, Paarchero, Natanus, and the KeelahSi'yah." Sara briefed Marcus on everything that happened the moment the they arrived in Andromeda from the death of her father to the establishment of Prodomos, even the Remnant vaults to the Anagara, and ending with their conflict with the Kett.

"So far are the Kett the only threat?" Marcus asked Sara when she finished.

"No, there are also the exiles." Sara told them and explained when she saw Marcus give her a questioning look.

"So we have both the Kett and the exiles to deal with." Marcus said, "what about the Angara?"

Sara looked shocked at what he asked before remembering what Jaal told her about the Roekaar. "There is a faction in the Angara that don't like Kett and us. The Roekaar." She told Marcus before transferring everything that Jaal gave her to the console which displayed the info allowing everyone in the room to read it.

"Ok, so we have threats from three major factions. The Kett, Exiles, and the Roekaar. All of whom have a problem with the Initiative and therefore us." Marcus spoke after reading the report on the Roekaar. _'Three different threats and a lot of innocents caught in the middle.'_ Marcus thought to himself.

"That about sums it up," Sara said bringing Marcus back from his thoughts. "Pardon me for being blunt but we have some questions of our own." Sara said while looking Marcus in the eye.

"I'll answer your questions when we're on the Nexus." Marcus told her never looking away, "some of the answers are sensitive and may not be too your liking. Better to get it out in front of the Nexus leadership."

Before Sara could ask what he meant the center console came to life displaying a Krogan wearing battle armor. Both Sara and Cora couldn't help but stare at the V.I., _"a message for Admiral Shepard from the Normandy."_ The Korgan V.I. said before disappearing.

Marcus opened his omni-tool and saw a message waiting for him from Ava informing him that the discharging process for the fleet will take another hour to complete and that the ship with engine damage is now repaired. Closing his omni-tool Marcus looked to Sara. "We can continue this when the leaders of the Initiative are present as I said earlier some of the answers are sensitive."

"I'll upload the coordinates for the Nexus then." Sara said opening her omni-tool.

" _Just wave your omni-tool over the console."_ The console once again displayed the armored krogan.

Sara hesitated, "what type of V.I. is this?" She asked to no one in particular.

"It's an A.I," Marcus automatically answered. "I'll explain everything when the Nexus leadership is present." He told Sara before she and Cora could argue his tone leaving no room for argument. Sara was briefly tempted to argue the point but decided it was better not too.

" _I assure you that I will only take the coordinates for the Nexus."_ The krogan A.I said looking at the two women who looked like they wanted to activate their biotics which for them is understandable given what the geth did to Eden Prime and the Citadel and the dangers that A.I's presented.

"If we're going to help we're going to have to trust each other." Marcus told Sara and Cora when he saw their expressions. Noticing the way Sara fists were clenched while Cora slowly flexed her fists her eyes darting to Sara waiting to see what she would do. Sara slowly exhaled as she unclenched her fists closing her eyes she pushed the images of her friends and teammates who died on Eden Prime.

Opening her eyes Sara activated her omni-tool and waved it over the center console, deactivating it immediately afterwards.

" _Coordinates received and transmitted to the fleet."_ The krogan A.I said before disappearing. Sara looked Marcus directly in the eyes saying _'don't make me regret this'_. Marcus blinked in response showing that he understood the wordless conversation between Marcus and Sara went unnoticed to the rest of the people in the room.

"With that, Captain Thela will escort you and Lt. Harper back to your ship." Marcus told Sara and Cora ending the briefing. Captain Thela escorted Sara and Cora out of the briefing room and back to the hanger. Marcus and Sasha stayed behind.

"You were a bit harsh on Harper." Sasha stated while Marcus took a seat on the nearest bench, Sasha looked at Marcus and saw that he removed his officer's hat and set it down next to him.

"Needed to gauge her reaction and see if she and Ryder are going to be a problem." Marcus said while running a hand through his hair. "Ava, bring up Harper and Ryder's service records from their time in the Alliance." The center console came to life displaying Sara and Cora's service records side by side. Sasha quickly read through their service records and noticed two things that jumped out to her.

"Sara Ryder was on Eden Prime with the Prothean research team during the geth attack." Sasha said before waving the screens away bringing a new set of screens. This time displaying the images of Sara Ryder and Cora Harper in their Alliance uniforms.

"While Cora Harper had squad mates serving on the Asari councilor's security detail. From her time with the Asari commandos." Marcus spoke rising to his feet, picking up his hat and walking to the center console standing next to Sasha. "All of whom died when Saren and the geth took control of the Citadel."

"Given their reactions to the geth in the hanger. I think it's safe to say that they still harbor some resentment." Sasha stated the obvious. "As does everyone in the Initiative I would imagine. Given what happened six hundred years ago."

Marcus sighed as the thought hadn't crossed his mind but was quickly replaced with another thought. "Then why use A.I's?" Marcus asked Sasha who seemed to be thinking of an answer. "Given what happened at Eden Prime and the Citadel you would think that the Initiative would be hesitant to use A.I's."

"Maybe they thought it was a risk worth taking." Sasha spoke after giving the question some thought. "After all time has no meaning to A.I's, so six hundred years of drifting through dark space is nothing to them." Sasha explained her reasoning to Marcus nodded at her answer.

"Either way people in the Initiative are going to take issue with the geth. Not to mention the Krogan and the Rachni." Marcus stated feeling the beginnings of a headache just from thinking of their reactions. Feeling a hand on his shoulder Marcus turned to see Sasha smiling a gentle smile.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." She said her smile never fading, "after all, we survived the Terminus War and everything after." Sasha reassured Marcus before removing her hand from his shoulder and letting it fall to her side.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Marcus said smiling from the gesture from Sasha. Sighing Marcus looked at the images of Sara and Cora in uniform, he had to admit that both women are attractive especially Cora but instead he found himself looking more at the image of Sara.

The Alliance uniform helped hide her figure but still managed to make her look attractive. Her brown hair done in a bun in accordance with Alliance regulation, her brown eyes held determination that Marcus often saw in N7's. All in all, Sara Ryder is an attractive woman it also helped that she rarely used make up at least from what Marcus saw.

Turning to the image of Cora Harper he saw the same thing he saw in Sara, the only difference is that Cora has blonde hair that used to be longer before she cut it into the current style he saw her with. Just from looking at the image it is obvious that Cora could have been a model rather than a soldier but being a biotic didn't really offer much in the way of employment.

"She's beautiful isn't she?" Sasha asked when she noticed Marcus looking at the photos of Sara and Cora.

"Who?"

"Cora Harper." Sasha stated the obvious knowing full well that he wasn't looking at the photo of Cora.

Marcus' lips turned upward in a crooked smile as he shook his head before grabbing his hat and walking to the exit. "Let's get back to the Normandy," he said as he left the room leaving Sasha behind as she also grabbed her hat and followed Marcus out of the room.

"You always did prefer brunettes." Sasha whispered.

Arriving back at the Normandy Marcus and Sasha entered the ship and were immediately greeted by Sydney. "Sir, Sara Ryder from the Tempest is trying to contact you." She told Marcus.

"I'll check in with Ava and get a status of the fleet." Sasha said before walking off to her office. Sydney nodded at Marcus before going back to her station.

"Ava, patch Sara into my comms." Marcus told Ava while walking to the CIC.

" _Already done."_

"Pathfinder Ryder I understand that you're trying to reach me." Marcus said once the comm channel opened up.

" _Admiral Shepard, I would like your permission to leave the Kalros and make a report to the Nexus. Need to make sure that they know of your arrival."_

Marcus understood what Sara really meant, _'me and my crew would like to leave a ship full of geth'_. "Permission granted, we'll meet you at the Nexus when our FTL is operational." Marcus told Ryder when he reached the CIC and walked up to the command platform, the center projection came to life showing a live feed of the Tempest already in the process of taking off.

" _Understood, we'll see you at the Nexus."_

With that the comm went silent and Marcus watched as the Tempest retracted its landing gear and departed the hanger. Closing the screen with the security feed Marcus turned around to face Sydney who continued checking reports at her station. "I'll be in my cabin let me know when the fleet is ready to use FTL." He told Sydney who looked up from her station and replied with a 'yes, sir'.

Stepping into the elevator and pressing the button for his cabin. Stepping out of the elevator and into his cabin Marcus was about to go to his desk when he remembered the package and video from Liara. Sitting on the couch Marcus grabbed the data pad and played the message, the image of Liara greeted him.

" _Greeting Marcus, I hope that you are doing well in Andromeda." Liara said before sighing to herself and looking away from the camera before looking back at the camera. "It's hard to fathom that you're in a different galaxy, but considering everything that happened six hundred years ago with the Reapers. I shouldn't be surprised." Liara looked at something off camera for a moment before focusing back on the camera. "I know that you have doubts about your ability to lead a fleet. And I know how much you hate being compared to Jane but she did too during the Reaper war. Having the hopes of an entire galaxy brought out the most self-doubting that I have ever seen from her."_

 _Liara spoke that last part with a faraway look in her eyes. "And right now you have that same responsibility to the fleet and those under your command. Don't fight it, eventually you'll learn to accept it just as she did." Liara took a deep breath, "I have faith in you. The same fire that burned in Jane, also burns in you. That fire that makes those around you willing to follow you into the lowest depths of hell and back."_

 _Liara smiled to herself. "You're a fine man, a fine soldier, and a fine Admiral. You can do this plus you have the help of Wrex and Grunt. Never forget that." Liara laughed to herself when she mentioned both Wrex and Grunt. "Tell them that I'll miss them both and not to cause too much in structural damage. Jane once told me that 'home is not a place where you shut yourself off from the world. That it's a place you travel long and hard to find.'"_

 _Liara voice choked at little when she quoted Jane. "Her story is over and yours is just beginning. I hope you find your home in Andromeda, and may the goddess guide you."_

A tear landed on the blank screen, Marcus set the data pad on the table and wiped the tears from his face before taking a deep breath to calm his emotions. Once he got his emotions back under control Marcus pulled the package closer to him and opened it. Inside there is a picture frame with a note attached.

' _Never forget where you came from – Liara'_

The picture showed the original Normandy crew posing in front of the Normandy with Jane in the center.

Setting the photo down on the table next to the package, taking a second look inside. Marcus saw another smaller package inside. Reaching inside and pulling the smaller package out revealing it to be a model ship, the Normandy SR-7. Smiling for a moment before opening the package and removing the model ship along with the stand and going to the display case that held his collection of model ships. Entering the code for the display case, the glass parted in the middle allowing him to set the model next to the Normandy SR-6 model. Once the model is set in place Marcus reentered the code for the display case and the glass came together in the middle sealing the display case.

" _The discharging process is complete."_ Ava said over the intercom.

"I'll be down in moment." Marcus replied turning around to head for the elevator when stopped just as he exited his cabin, turning around he went back into his cabin and grabbed the photo from the table in front of his couch and set it next to the others on his desk. Exiting the elevator and stepping into the CIC Marcus made his way to the cockpit where Sasha is already waiting for him. "What's our status?"

Chloe pushed a button on her chair and the seat turned around so she could face Marcus. "As Ava surely told you. The discharging process is complete, and we can safely use FTL."

"Coordinates for the Nexus?" Marcus asked. This time Ava appeared on the holo display next to the pilot's seat.

" _Already inputted. The fleet is ready to go FTL on your command."_ Ava told him.

Recalling Liara's words to him, Marcus took a deep breath and activated the comm link that patched him to the entire fleet. "This is Admiral Shepard; all ships prepare for FTL." He ordered the fleet and gestured to Chloe, giving her the signal to go FTL. Chloe's chair turned around once again to face the controls and begin the FTL process.

The Normandy is the first to go FTL quickly followed by the rest of the rest.

* * *

 **Kadara**

Inside of Sloane's office, Sloane sat on her 'throne' reading a report on the forces that she sent to intercept the Initiative's reinforcements. "So… the krogan failed not only to secure the supplies or the ships, but he also failed to kill the Pathfinder." She said after reading the report given to her by the survivors on the attack who fled when it became clear they were outclassed. Right now there is a turian and asari wearing scavenger armor looking skittish. "Does that about sum it up?" Sloane asked lowering the report to glare at the survivors who fidgeted under her gaze.

"Y-yes, ma'am." The asari stammered looking down hoping that she might live through this.

"Look at me." Sloane ordered the asari who obeyed only to shot in the head by Sloane. Rising from her 'throne' Sloane walked to the turian who wished that he had weapon right now. "So instead of fighting. You decided to run the moment things turn against you." Sloane spoke while walking to the turian, stepping over the corpse of the asari and started circling him. Holstering her weapon Sloan kicked the turian behind the knees forcing to the ground where she started punching him in the face.

"Do you have any idea how fucking weak you made me appear just now!" Sloane shouted while continuing to punch the turian until she beat him to an inch of his life. "My people are supposed to be fearless!" She shouted as she introduced her boot to the turian's face, bringing her boot down on the turian's face repeatedly until she heard a sickening crunch beneath her boot. Breathing heavily and wiping the sweat from her face she composed herself before walking back to her 'throne'.

"Make sure people get the message, Kaetus." Sloane said when she sat down, "anyone caught running from a fight will be killed." She told Kaetus while she crossed her legs and leaned into her seat. The turian nodded before gesturing to the guards to take away the bodies.

* * *

 **Kett Dreadnaught – Verakan**

Inside the private quarters of the Archon stood a figure, the figure is tall and leaner than humans or any of the other Milky Way species. The figure's body is covered in white bones that doubled as armor and has no discernible lower jaw, its head is covered in a large translucent dome that reflected the light, a large headpiece extended from the figure's head which could be considered a crown. This is the Archon, commander of the Kett forces in the Heleus Cluster.

The Archon is currently examining an image that is being displayed in the center of the room by a small drone that floated behind him. Hearing the doors to his quarters open he didn't bother turning around knowing that his second in command has come to pester him again.

"We have a problem," the Primus said when she got to close to the Archon who waved his hand in front of the small drone causing the image to disappear.

"Is the Empire pestering me for updates?" The Archon asked knowing full well that is the exact thing the Primus is going to say as she always tells him that the Empire is constantly asking for updates.

"The Imperator does not like being ignored." The Primus said pacing back and forth, "it won't be long before he revokes your status as Archon and puts someone else in charge.

The Archon turned around to face the Primus. "Someone like you?" he asked closing the distance between so that he towered over the Primus. "Until that day comes. You will follow my orders." He told the Primus, he didn't need to make a threat as it is implied.

"By your orders, Archon." The Primus said keeling to one knee, "we still have a problem. The Third Suppression Force have gone silent." She told the Archon still kneeling.

"As I recall they were responding to a signal from the newcomers." The Archon said before turning around to face his vase collection of the Ancients One's technology.

"They sent a distress call requesting reinforcements. By the time they arrived, they found only the remains of the Third Suppression Force." The Primus then told everything she learned to the Archon.

"It doesn't matter." The Archon spoke before gesturing to the small drone which once again displayed the previous image. "One of them will lead us to what we seek. And once we have control of the Ancient One's vaults." The Archon gestured to the image, "we will proceed with our original purpose."

With that the Primus rose from the kneeling position and exited the Archon's private quarters, leaving the Archon to his thoughts.

The image that the Archon is studying is taken from his exchange with the newcomers when he tracked the one who interacted with the vault before they escaped.

Sara and her crew.

* * *

 **A/N: I wanted to show a little of Sloane and the Archon in this chapter and what they are doing in their spare time.**

 **Also I've taken some liberties with Sara by saying that she was on Eden Prime during the geth attack. I like to think that when the beacon was discovered the Alliance dispatched Sara and her team to secure/study it. Also Sara and Scott are both twenty-five instead of twenty-two. Marcus is twenty-nine, so he's four years older than Sara.**

 **Sara's physical appearance is the default character as is Scott's. Marcus' physical appearance is the default male Shepard from the original trilogy, just picture him with more hair, a scar over his right eye and clean shaven.**

 **With that I will post the next chapter when I can and I would ask all you to be patient with me. I don't have a lot of free time right now to write and the posting will be here and there but I'll try to set a schedule for posting.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I'm back with another chapter. Thank all of you for being patient with me, I've had writers block since the last update but now I'm free from its cursed grasp. Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter Eight

 **The Tempest**

Sara leaned on the railings of her command platform on the bridge recalling the events that transpired on the Kalros and the information that she learned from Admiral Shepard, rubbing her eyes she knew that she needed to have a talk with her crew knowing that they will want answers about what happened during her and Cora's absence. Thankfully they left her alone for the time being but she knew the moment of peace wouldn't last and soon they will come to pester her for answers especially Peebee. Deciding to get it over with Sara had SAM inform the crew to meet in the communication room above the CIC.

Sara exited the bridge with Suvi and Kallo following after activating the auto pilot for the Tempest. Sara walked up the ramp to the comms room, when she reached the top the questions began.

"What happened with the Admiral?"

"What are we going to tell the Initiative?"

"What are we going to do about the geth?"

Sara raised her hand to silence the questions as she walked past her crew to the comm table. "First of all Drack, what the hell happened on the Kalros?" Sara asked the krogan who just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"What about it?" Drack asked in a calm almost bored tone.

Sara took a deep breath trying to reign in her temper, "when I give an order. I expect my people to follow them." she told Drack who just snorted in response.

"Krogan don't follow orders well."

"Well, you better learn fast. Cause if you want to stay on this team, on this ship I need to know that you will follow my orders." Sara told Drack who walked over to her and stopped in front of her. Drack glared at Sara who returned it despite the size difference. Everyone moved back except Cora and Liam who positioned themselves behind Drack.

"You've got gall, Ryder." Drack said before punching Sara in the shoulder with a light jab. "Anyone else I would've killed." He told her before going back to his spot next to Vetra, "You two need to work on your approach, heard you behind me." Drack told Cora and Liam as he passed by them.

Sara sighed as she turned to face her crew once again. "From what I've been told by Admiral Shepard the fleet we saw is a response/relief fleet that is responding to a distress call that the Nexus issued a year ago. They are here to assist us in establishing a home here." Sara then told her crew everything that she learned from Admiral Shepard, Cora backed Sara when the crew didn't believe her about certain things like the Delta Relay and the use of A.I's which seemed to cause Peebee to smile with joy.

"Things really have changed back home if they are using A.I's and are friends with the geth." Peebee said putting a hand on her hip, "makes you wonder what other things have changed."

"The technology clearly has advanced if they are able to pick up a distress call from dark space. Not to mention being able to build ships over a kilometer." Gil chipped in from his spot on the couch, "I'd love the chance to take a peek at their drive cores and see the advancements from our own."

"I'd like to see what their weapons can do," Drack added causing Vetra to smile.

"You're not the only one Drack." She said.

"I think the real issue here is, what are we going to do now?" Cora asked, everyone in the room weren't really sure. With the fleet lending a hand, the Initiative could find a suitable planet much faster than the Pathfinders could and they could push the Kett back to secure their outposts. Everyone on the Tempest felt like they wouldn't be needed now that the fleet is backing them up.

"Nothing has changed." Sara said getting the attention of everyone. "Our objective of finding a home for the Initiative is still a priority." She told her crew while looking each of them in the eye, "I'll brief you more on the situation as I learn more. For now, I need to brief Tann and the others," she told her crew who immediately got the message and left Sara alone in the comms room.

Sara activated the comms panel and contacted Tann.

"Ryder, what can I do for you? Tann asked once his holo form was projected.

"I have important information that I need to tell you and others." Sara told Tann who began typing in something on his end, soon the holo forms of Addison, Kesh, and Kandros joined them.

"What can we do for you, Ryder?" Kesh asked.

"Five hours ago we received a transmission on Initiative channels that was… unusual." Sara told them which caused them to look at each other.

"Define unusual," Tann asked curious as to the nature of the transmission.

"Better if you all hear it for yourselves," Sara said before playing the transmission again for them to hear. "We deemed it necessary to investigate the origin of the signal." she told them once the message ended.

"You did what!?" Tann shouted cutting Sara off before she could finish what she was about to say. Looking to the others Sara saw the same disapproving look that Tann had, she had a feeling that she would be seeing that look a lot.

Taking a deep breath before she resumed what she was about to say before she was interrupted. "As I was saying, we went to the coordinates mentioned in the message and found that the message is indeed real.

"Preposterous," Tann exclaimed getting the attention of the others. "There is no logical way for the Milky Way to pick up a transmission from here. The technology just doesn't exist." He explained.

"I agree; this is wishful thinking at best." Addison pitching in her own opinion on the matter.

Sara once again took another deep breath in an attempt to reign in her emotions, "I'm telling you that the fleet is real." She told them again.

"Perhaps it was a mistake to send you out so soon after your father's death." Tann said looking directly at Sara. "Grieving for a loved one takes time. Maybe we pushed you into your father's role too soon." Sara couldn't believe what she is hearing, at this point she had enough of Tann's shit.

"We'll be arriving at the Nexus in two hours." She told them, "with the fleet." Sara ended the transmission just as Tann was about to say something. Clenching her fists in an attempt to calm herself, Sara recalled Tann's words, she could hear how he questioned her mental stability and from the looks that she got from the others it's obvious that they also had the same thoughts as Tann.

"This is why the Krogan left," Sara heard Drack behind her. Turning around she saw Drack leaning against the railing casually.

"They got tired of Tann's bullshit?" Sara asked sarcastically, while leaning against the table crossing her arms.

"Partly, but it mostly dealt with him trying to use us like his own private enforcers." Drack said also crossing his arms copying Sara.

"Addison said you left on your own accord," she said which caused Drack to laugh.

"More like we were forced out when we refused to play security for Tann," Drack told Sara once he stopped laughing. "He's just an ass who isn't even supposed to be in charge."

"Doesn't stop him from questioning my decisions and my mental health." Sara huffed uncrossing her arms and rubbed her eyes, "I need to hit something. Work off this stress before I see Tann and others." Sara told Drack who just smirked or at least the krogan equivalent to a smirk.

"I think Liam set up a punching bag in the cargo bay." Drack told her before leaving and going back to the kitchen. Sara went back to her room and changed into her workout clothes, making her way to the cargo hold she found Liam cleaning his weapon, asking him where he set up the punching bag. Directing her to where he set up the punching bag, Sara took out her aggression on the punching bag. By the time she finished an hour had already passed, deciding to take another shower before arriving at the Nexus.

After her shower Sara spent the last hour visiting the crew to go over recent events. Cora seemed pleased that the Initiative has help but is worried that this will cause problems, Liam is excited at the prospect of finding out how things are back home and finally getting down to establishing a colony with the Angara instead of outposts. Vetra, Drack, Peebee, Jaal, and Lexi seemed disinterested, while Gale and the others are really excited at having the prospect of examining their technology. Sara felt that the crew all has the same reaction even if they didn't show it, Sara would be lying if she said that she didn't want to see what their tech looked like especially after seeing the large dreadnaughts.

Kallo informed Sara that they are about to exit FTL, going to the cockpit just in time to see the Nexus come into view as the ship exited FTL. "I'm detecting ships emerging from FTL." Suvi said from her side of the cockpit. Sara went to her command platform to see ships start to emerge from FTL.

* * *

 **The Nexus – Tann's Office/ Pathfinder HQ**

Tann and the other leaders of the Initiative were gathered around the large circular table that also doubled as a holo projector. "We need to discuss whether Sara Ryder is mentally fit to be Pathfinder or not," Tann addressed the others.

"I believe it was her father's wishes that she assume the role of Pathfinder," Kesh said in defense of Sara who should be present but isn't.

"Protocol dictates that Cora Harper should be the Pathfinder," Addison said getting a look from Kesh. "She is next in command not Sara Ryder."

"In case you haven't noticed, Addison. Things haven't been going according to protocol," Kandros told her. "If they have, then we wouldn't be in this situation."

"Without protocol, we might as well throw out the rule book and join the exiles on Kadara." Addison retorted slightly raising her voice causing Kandros' mandibles flare out slightly.

"If I recall that is exactly what you and Tann did when you decided to exile a third of the Initiative." Kesh said in calm tone that had the effect of pissing Addison off based on her expression.

"Everyone settle down; we can discuss the past at a later date." Tann said in an effort to reign in the others before they start throwing something other than words. "Back to the topic at hand. Do we keep Sara Ryder as Pathfinder even if she has issues regarding her mental health?" He asked his colleagues.

"Why do you assume she's suffering from mental health issues?" Kesh asked, curious as to how he jumped to that conclusion.

"As I stated earlier, she lost her father and hasn't had the time to grieve and we pushed her into the role of Pathfinder." Tann stated putting his arms behind his back in an effort to appear at ease and open. "As I understand it, not grieving properly tends to led one to have issues." Tann explained himself.

"There is no proper way to grieve, Tann." Kandros spoke up placing his hands on the table and sighing loud enough for the others to hear. "Sara has already established an outpost on Eos and got the vault operational. As long as she gets counseling to help her, then I'm fine with her being Pathfinder." Kandros told the others folding his arms across his chest.

"I agree," Kesh said agreeing with Kandros which caught his attention. "She has already proven that she can handle herself and the responsibilities that come with being Pathfinder." Kesh explained her reasoning for keeping Sara as Pathfinder, "Not to mention for the first time in a year. The people on the station have hope that this endeavor will work, they have seen what Ryder can do and they believe in her. Replacing her for someone like Harper who only follow orders will cause an uproar among the populace." Kesh added looking directly at Tann as she said the last part.

Tann looked to Addison for her decision regarding the fate of Sara as Pathfinder but before she could speak, Tann's assistant interrupted. "Pardon the intrusion but the Tempest will be exiting FTL soon," she told Tann and the others before leaving.

"Well, let us go and see this relief fleet for ourselves." Tann said ending the meeting and walking to the exit with the others following him, leaving Pathfinder HQ the group went to the control room where they could see incoming ships which lately have been just the Tempest and outgoing shuttles.

"Picking up the Tempest on our sensors," one of the personal said from his station.

"Any other ships exiting FTL?" Tann asked which caused the person to look at him in confusion.

"Uh… no sir, nothing."

"So much for the so called 'relief fleet'," Tann said before turning around and leaving for his office.

"Sir, I'm picking up multiple ships exiting FTL!" This caused Tann to quickly turn around in time see multiple flashes of light against the darkness of space signaling ships exiting FTL. "Their transponders show them as Council ships."

"Spirits…" Kandros said getting the attention of Tann who turned around to face him and saw that everyone in the control room looking at the sight before them, even personal from security to the labs could be seen looking at the ships. Turning back to the window Tann saw the Tempest and one more that appeared to be larger than the Tempest flying towards the docking bay while the others remained still holding their position.

* * *

 **Normandy – Marcus**

Marcus looked at the large structure that served as the hub of the Initiative, the Nexus.

"That's impressive, considering they built it six hundred years ago." Chloe said as she guided the Normandy to the docks by following the Tempest.

" _It should be noted that the structure is largely unfinished and I detect structural damage in several areas."_ Ava said as her holo form appeared on the projector next to Chloe.

"Looks like human ark is powering the station," Sasha said from her spot next to Marcus.

"Correct, the station is siphoning power from the ark," Ava told them. "Without the other four arks, the station will drain the human ark of power in eight months."

"Nexus control, this is the Normandy requesting clearance for landing." Chloe asked over the comms.

" _Normandy you have clearance to land. Proceed to landing pad 12."_

"Roger, proceeding to pad 12." Chloe said before guiding the Normandy to the docks and to pad 12.

"Are we going to be able to land?" Marcus asked due to the fact that the Normandy wasn't really built with landing gears in mind, for planet side landings the ship would hover above the ground and deploy the ramp.

"Yup, one of the new features that the engineers made is the landing gear." Chloe said before activating the landing gear which deployed from the bottom of the ship as they approached the landing pad. After landing the ship Chloe began powering down the ship. "Looks like you've got an escort," she said gesturing with her head to the group waiting outside the ship with guards. Marcus recognized Sara in the group and no one else, he figured that the others must be the leaders of the Nexus.

"Let's introduce ourselves," Marcus said before heading to the cargo bay with Sasha. Reaching the cargo bay Marcus saw a group of marines with non-lethal weapons waiting for them, looking to Sasha confirmed that she called them. Walking to the controls Marcus hit the switch that lowered the ramp and soon after the cargo bay doors opened. Walking down the ramp Marcus, Sasha and their entourage walked over to the group and their own security detail, noticing that the group consisted of a salarian, human, turian, and a female krogan plus Sara and their security.

"Pathfinder Ryder," Marcus greeted Sara first because she is the only one he knew in the group.

"Admiral Shepard," Sara returned the greeting while steeping away from the group towards him and shaking his hand. "This is Director Tann, current leader of the Initiative," Sara told Marcus while gesturing to the salarian now named Tann who immediately went to shake Marcus' hand.

"Welcome to the Nexus, Admiral." Tann said while shaking his hand, "it is a pleasure to have you here." He told Marcus before releasing his hand.

Sara shook her head slightly before continuing introductions, "this is Addison. She's in charge of colonial affairs," the aforementioned woman smiled before also going to shake his hand. "This is Nakmor Kesh and Tiran Kandros. Kesh is the superintendent and oversees day to day operations while Kandros is in charge of security and the militia." Sara explained to Marcus who nodded at the both of them, thankfully they returned the gesture and didn't go to shake his hand which earned them points in his book.

"I'm Admiral Marcus Shepard, head of the relief fleet. This is my second in command Captain Sasha Beckett," Marcus told the leaders while gesturing to Sasha who smiled and nodded at the group.

"Pardon me but how did you and the others get here?" Addison asked once introductions were over.

"We should take this to a more private setting," Kesh told Addison before gesturing to the large crowd that has started to gather.

"Agreed, follow me." Tann said before turning around and leading the group back to the tram, the ride to the command center was quiet as nether side knew what to say and their security detail eyeing each other attempting to gauge how they could subdue them. Arriving at the command center Tann lead the way to the Pathfinder HQ while Marcus and his entourage received stares from pretty much everyone in the room. Before the group entered Pathfinder HQ Tann asked that their security detail wait outside, Marcus agreed and ordered his men to stay outside and wait for him or Sasha.

Entering the building Tann and the others went to the large holo table where Marcus and Sasha stood opposite of them. "Now, how did you and the rest of the relief fleet arrive here in such a short time?" Tann asked what the others save for Sara wanted to know, "considering how the S.O.S. was issued a year ago."

Marcus repeated what he told Sara and Cora to Tann and the others, even showing them footage of the Delta Relay in operation.

"Are there going to be other ships arriving?" Kesh asked once the footage ended looking to Marcus.

"I don't think so. It took a lot of resources to retrofit all of the ships in the fleet. Especially the S.D's," Marcus told them.

"How are things back home?" Sara asked curious about things in the Milky Way after they left and so is everyone judging by their expressions. Marcus hesitated for a moment as he wasn't sure he should tell them about the Reaper invasion that took place after they left, taking a breath he made his decision. Telling Sara and the others of the Reapers turned out to be a trial in itself as they also didn't believe him until he once again showed them footage of the war and of the Reapers themselves, seeing their faces showed they had mixed feelings about the Reapers.

Marcus also told them of the Rachni and the geth and their own A.I's, shortly afterwards Tann asked Marcus and Sasha to give them a moment to go over what they just learned. Marcus and Sasha left the Pathfinder HQ leaving Sara and the others to talk.

* * *

 **Sara**

Sara couldn't believe what she'd just been told, the Reapers and the invasion that happened just after the Initiative left. She thought of the friends she left behind wondering if any of them survived the war before realizing that they are probably gone after 600 years but it still made her wonder.

"Troubling revelations," Tann said drawing Sara out of her thoughts. _"understatement,"_ she thought to herself. "Regardless we need to discuss how this affects the Initiative," Tann said addressing everyone in the room.

"The security issues that this is going to bring, are going to be a nightmare." Kandros said placing his hands on the table.

"Best possible outcome?" Addison asked looking to Kandros.

"Riots, personal leaving the station. Just to note a few."

"Agreed, not to mention how the krogan are going to respond once they learn of the Rachni." Kesh said from her spot, "especially from New Tuchanka, Morda isn't going to be happy that our old foe is back and is an ally now." Kesh said with a worried tone that pretty much everyone in the room save for Sara agreed with. Reports from the krogan colony reveled that Nakmor Morda ruled over the colony with an iron fist and has a grudge against the Initiative, specially Tann which Kesh told Sara.

Storing what she just learned for later and making a note to ask Kesh and Drack for more details. "Security concerns aside, we have to admit that having Admiral Shepard and the fleet here is beneficial to the Initiative." Sara spoke getting the attention of everyone in the room, "with their help we could secure our outposts. Hell, some of the exiles could even come back now that help is here." She said admirably.

"The Kett could also double their efforts in attacking our outposts, even this station. They may see this as an act of war." Tann said to Sara, berating her for her ignorance.

"Not to mention how the Angara will react to more 'outsiders' arriving." Kandros added, "the alliance you've established is uneasy at best." He said looking to Sara, "we'll have to tread carefully."

"The populace is going to be another issue we'll have to deal with." Addison spoke up voicing her concern, "given what the Admiral said about the geth we can expect some hostilities."

"Kandros?" Tann asked looking to the turian who sighed, his mandibles slightly flaring. "We still have riot gear that we can outfit our security teams with, when we announce the presence of the fleet and the geth."

"The fleet sounds like they are going to be more of a hindrance than help." Addison said, Sara felt her headache slowing building up again at hearing the cons of having the fleet backing them up.

"May I remind all of you that the Initiative is in no position to refuse the help." Sara said calmly, trying her best not to shout, the politics were giving her a headache not to mention a huge pain. "Resources are limited, we've only established one outpost, and are being hounded by the Kett on every planet that we visit and even on supply runs." She said hinting at the loss of supply ships that the Kett attacked while on route to Prodromos.

"With the fleet's help we can secure Prodromos and our supply lines." She said to Tann and the others in the room, "the resources that they can bring in will not only help but will go to restoring the Nexus. Not to mention the odds of us finding a home is now doubled. With the help of the fleet and the Angara we can establish a real home here." She took a breath before continuing, "now every situation that we've encountered has pros and cons, and this is no different."

After she finished speaking Sara looked to everyone in the room, "agreed." Tann said which surprised her, looking to everyone in the room Sara saw acceptance in their eyes.

* * *

 **Marcus**

While Sara and the leaders of the Nexus met in private Marcus and Sasha along with their security walked to the second level of the command center, they stood in front of the large viewing window that offered them a view of docking area of the Nexus and the fleet still holding their position. "Hard to imagine that they managed to build this 600 years ago, given the restrictions on building anything over a kilometer." He said to Sasha as she stood next to him.

" _From my scans, the station is actually two separate sections joined in the middle."_ Ava told both Marcus and Sasha.

"Everyone is staring," Sasha stated the obvious which Marcus already knew from the moment they stepped foot on the station.

"Just ignore them," he said to Sasha while he continued to look out of the viewing window trying his best to ignore the looks that the personal were giving him and his colleagues.

"Excuse me, Admiral Shepard?" Marcus turned around to see a female salarian holding a data pad, "Director Tann and the others are ready for you." She said before turning around and heading back to Pathfinder HQ with Marcus and the others following him. Entering the building he and Sasha went back to the meeting to find Sara and the others waiting.

Walking back to the holo table he stood where he stood before, "what's the decision?" Marcus asked Sara which seemed to piss Tann off based on his expression causing her to smile.

"We and the others," Tann said placing an emphasis on 'others' before casting a look at Sara. "Have decided to accept the help that you and the relief fleet has to offer," he said now looking to Marcus.

"I'll be retaining my position as Admiral of the relief fleet, all ships and personal in the fleet will remain under my command." Marcus told them saying the last bit while looking directly at Tann almost daring him to argue with him, Tann seemed to get the message as he looked away first. "Now, what's the status of all ongoing Initiative operations?" Marcus asked taking charge of the conversation.

Tann and the others gave brief but detailed overviews of all operations in the Heleus Cluster, from station repairs to the upkeep of Prodromos, and even the problem with the Kett targeting their ships.

"We also have Havarl and Voeld, that I need to check out. The Angara have asked that I and the Initiative lend a hand." Sara said getting the attention of Marcus.

"What's on Havarl and Voeld?" Marcus asked.

"The Angara have lost contact with some of their scientists. Voeld is where the Moshae is currently being held, but the Angaran Resistance doesn't have an exact location on her. The moment they do they'll contact me." Sara told Marcus and the others, "by doing these two things for them. The Angara will share what they have on the Vaults."

"Forget about the Vaults, Ryder." Addison said to Sara making her look in Addison's direction. "Now that we have help, there is no need to go looking for the Vaults anymore."

"Agreed," Tann said agreeing with Addison and judging by the looks that Marcus saw on Kesh, he could see that she somewhat appeared to be in agreement with Tann and Addison. Kandros appears to be indifferent, Sara looked to be backed into a corner.

"What are the Vaults?" Marcus asked Sara, helping her out and getting information at the same time. Sara explained everything that she learned from SAM and even from Peebee which didn't turn out to be much but it's still something. "Could the Vaults be weaponized?" he asked her.

"What?" Sara asked slightly confused, Marcus then explained his thoughts on the Vaults and that based on what he had been told, they could potentially have the ability to destroy planets just as much as they could heal them and make them livable.

" _If I may, Admiral Shepard poses an excellent question."_ SAM said appearing in the center of the holo table, _"The Vault on Habit 7 is a prime example of what Admiral Shepard is describing. Even though the Vault in question was malfunctioning, it rendered the planet inhabitable."_ Sara never thought that the Vaults could be weaponized but her thoughts were put on hold as she introduced SAM to Marcus and Sasha.

" _A pleasure to meet you Admiral Shepard, Captain Beckett. I'm SAM, Simulated Adaptive Matrix."_ SAM introduced himself to Marcus and Sasha who didn't seem surprised at seeing an A.I, that was until Sara remembered that they have their own A.I's. _"It's a pleasure to meet another A.I."_

Marcus could see confusion on everyone's faces, "introduce yourself, Ava." He said to no one in the room, soon the table displayed another form, this time the image of a young woman dressed in a white shirt, black leggings, and boots appeared and walked to the holo form of SAM and stopped in front of him. Her purple hair fluttering in nonexistent wind.

"Hello SAM, I'm Ava. The Normandy's A.I and partner to Admiral Marcus Shepard." She introduced herself to SAM holding out her hand in a handshake gesture, a blue stream appeared from SAM that floated to Ava and touched her hand. Once the stream touched Ava's hand she shook SAM's "hand" before letting go.

" _A pleasure to meet you, Ava."_

"What do you mean by 'partner'?"Tann asked looking to Marcus.

"Like the Pathfinders, I've been outfitted with an implant. Ava is my A.I partner." Marcus told them and once again is met with surprised looks.

"Are there anymore outfitted with the implants?" Sara asked curiously looking to Sasha who shook her head. Sara knew from her father that SAM and the implants were kept a secret from the public and the Council lest they send their spectres after them.

"No, I'm the only one to implanted with the chip." Marcus told her and the others before looking to Sara, "which planet are you going to tackle first. Havarl or Voeld? He asked her shifting the conversation from his implant.

Sara looks at Marcus for a moment. "Havarl, I want to help the scientists and get the backing of some of the Angara before I go to Voeld. The resistance hasn't yet pinpointed the location of where the Moshae is being held." She told him.

"Alright, I'll meet you there as soon I'm done here," Marcus told her.

"Why?" Both Sara and Kandros asked in unison.

"I prefer to be out in the field when I can," Marcus answered looking to Sara then to Kandros.

"I can respect that," Kandros said with admiration evident in his voice. Looking to Sara, Marcus could see that Sara also has admiration in her eyes. Turning to Sasha he gestured to her, reaching into her pant pocket she removed a small silver case with the Council logo on it and handed it to Marcus. Marcus set the case of the table and opened it, inside there are ten small cylinders, removing five of the cylinders he sent them on the table before closing the case and handing it back to Sasha.

"These are data packets that contain everything that happened in the last 600 years back home," Marcus explained. "They only contain information about events and nothing else. You can share what you will with the public."

Sara reached for the data packet first, pocketing it and turning to Marcus. "I'll be sharing this with my crew, I trust them." She said before turning to Tann and the others, "I'll be heading to Havarl to help the Angara locate their missing scientists."

"Pathfinder Ryder," Marcus said stopping Sara when she turned away from table. "The next time you're available I would like to have a meeting."

"Sure, about what?"

"I'd like you to debrief you about your experiences here." Marcus told her.

"Fine by me, see you on Havarl." Sara said to Marcus before leaving the meeting to go back to her ship. After Sara left the meeting Marcus turned to Tann.

"Is there enough room to accommodate some of the civilian personal?" Marcus asked, "they've been in stasis since we've left and I would like to start waking them up."

"Do we have room?" Tann asked both Addison and Kesh.

"We have room in Prodromos to accommodate some personal. Once the radiation clears, we can expand Prodromos." Addison said.

"We were already planning on opening some of the closed sections." Kesh added

"Alright, I'm going to head back to the Normandy and oversee the transfer of personal to the station and Prodromos." Marcus told them, however before he and Sasha could leave Tann stopped them.

"Are you going to share your technology with us?" Tann asked sounding slightly hopeful that Marcus would say yes.

"No, if we do share our technology. Some of it is bound to end in the hands of the exiles, and I don't want to make them stronger." Marcus told them, "once the threat of the Kett and the exiles are dealt with. Then we'll begin sharing our tech but not our weapons." With that Marcus once again turned to the exit and once again Tann stops him.

"We'll need to do a press conference about this turn of events." Tann said, Marcus on the other hand is already out of the door with Sasha leaving the details of the press release up to Tann. Making their way back to the docks and ignoring the stares, Marcus and the others finally made it back to the Normandy and were safe from the stares as they boarded the ship. Once back inside Marcus heads straight to the war room located in the CIC.

Once inside of the war room Marcus begins to issue orders to various Captains in the fleet, instructing them to go to Prodromos to help secure the outpost and to begin docking with the Nexus, and that some of the security personal should report to Kandros when they can. "Tann is ready for the press conference," Ava informed Marcus.

"Where's the conference taking place?" Marcus asked while on his way to the cockpit.

"Closer than you think," Ava said cryptically which Marcus found unsettling. Arriving in the cockpit Marcus saw that Tann had set up a stage and a podium in front of the Normandy, security personal lined the front of the podium ready to intervene if necessary. Sighing to himself before going to the cargo hold with Sasha following. Exiting the Normandy Marcus saw that a large crowd has started to gather, seeing Tann gesture for him to stand next to him. Standing behind Tann, Marcus looked out into the crowd and wondered how they would react.

"When we first arrived in Heleus, we were met with disaster." Tann addressed the crowd, "we lost our leaders, our guidance. But all was not lost as I stepped up into the role of leadership that was thrust upon me, I helped bring order to this station and kept us alive until the human ark arrived." Clearing his throat before continuing, "when we first encountered the scourge, it was my idea to issue a distress call. Many of my colleagues thought it was folly. I am pleased to say that it has paid off."

At this point in his speech many of the people in the crowd started to whisper and murmur amongst themselves, some even looking in Marcus' direction. "Help has arrived from the Milky Way Galaxy in the form of a fleet under the command of Admiral Marcus Shepard." Tann finished his speech by gesturing to Marcus to his left and stepped away leaving the podium free for Marcus.

Walking to the podium, Marcus cleared his throat and faced the crowd, many of whom had skeptical looks on their faces as they examined him. "As Director Tann said, I'm Admiral Marcus Shepard, Alliance Navy, leader of the relief fleet. At this point in time I've ordered the fleet to begin sending personal to the station to assist with rebuilding and security. Ships have also been sent to Prodromos to secure the outpost and protect it from outside threats." Marcus told them, "security pat…"

"Liar!" Someone in the crowd shouted cutting Marcus off.

"Tann's a liar!"

"He only thinks about himself!"

"Prove it!"

One by one people in the crowd started to shout asking him to prove that he is indeed from the Milky Way and others called him a fraud. Kesh seeing that Marcus is having difficulty getting in a word with all the shouting, she activates her omni-tool and deactivates the "sky" filter. With the filters disabled the crowd can see into space and see the many ships that are outside of the station, smaller ships could be seen heading toward the docking bay. Marcus could see hope in their eyes as they looked at the ships then to him.

Marcus continued speaking once the crowd settled down, "cooperation is paramount to getting the Initiative back on its feet. Help us, help you, and together we can bring the Initiative back from the brink." Marcus said ending his speech just in time as the first shuttle flew into the docking area and landed, everyone looked at the shuttle in anticipation not noticing that Tann once again took the podium until he spoke.

"Let us welcome our rescuers with open arms," Tann said to the crowd.

"Tann! Tann! Tann!" One person in the crowd shouted, then more and more joined in shouting Tann's name like a mantra, soon everyone in the crowd shouted Tann's name. Marcus looked to Tann and saw the salarian smiling as the crowd shouted his name, he would have to keep an eye on the salarian. The shouting died down the moment the shuttle doors opened and the occupants emerged. Humans, Salarians, Turians, and Asari disembarked from the shuttle.

Marcus stepped off the podium and walked over to the shuttle occupants with Sasha and Kesh behind him, an asari walked up to Marcus and shook his hand. "Admiral Shepard, Lieutenant Varva Trux, security." She introduced herself once she let go of his hand.

"Lieutenant, this is Nakmor Kesh." Marcus gestured to Kesh who shook Verva's hand, "once she clears you, report to Kandros." He told Verva who saluted before ordering the others behind to follow Kesh to processing. Marcus looked at the number of shuttles incoming and landing, he ordered the geth and rachni to hold off boarding the station, after all they needed to be welcomed and not ostracized right off the bat.

"You made the right call holding the geth and rachni back." Sasha said while Marcus listened and watched as numerous people disembarked from the shuttles and proceed to processing. "Come on, we need to let Tann know that we're leaving."

Marcus walked over to Tann who never left the stage and now looked at the people waiting to be processed. "Tann, we'll be heading out to Havarl. I wanna meet up with Ryder and help with the Angaran situation."

"We'll brief your people on the rules of the station in the meantime."

Marcus and Sasha boarded the Normandy once again only this time the engines started, the Normandy lifted off from the landing pad, the landing gears folding in on themselves and back into the Normandy. Many Initiative personal cheered at the sight of the Normandy as it flew out of the docking area, once back into space the Normandy flew past incoming shuttles headed toward the station before making an FTL jump to Havarl.

* * *

 **A/N: So important news I now have a posting schedule, sort of. I'll be posting one new chapter on the Friday of every week for two of my stories. This one and my Ghost Recon/Mass Effect crossover, so one week will be a new chapter for "Finding Home" and the following week will be "Where Ghosts and Spectres Play".**

 **This will give me a week to write a chapter and post it, now this doesn't mean that the chapters will be posted exactly the day I say they will, some may be posted early or later than the intended date.**

 **That is it, I hope you are enjoying the story.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Happy new year everybody and what better way to celebrate than reading a new chapter.**

 **Any mistakes are mine and I accept that.**

* * *

Chapter Nine

 **The Tempest – Sara**

Sara exited her cabin needing a break from reading the data packet that Shepard gave to her. After the meeting with Shepard and the others, she had SAM scan the data packet and transfer the files to the Tempest. When she boarded the Tempest she instructed Kallo to set a course for Havarl, after that she instructed everyone to meet in the comms room. Once everyone had gathered she relied everything that transpired in the meeting between Shepard and the others. After the short briefing she transferred the files of the data packet to everyone's omni-tool explaining that what they just received was an overview of everything that happened back home, telling them that they can choose to read it or not.

After the meeting everyone dispersed going to back to their respective rooms to read the data packet curious as to what happened back home. Sara went back to her room instructing SAM to let her know when they are getting close to Havarl, sitting at her desk she turned on her terminal and started to read. She didn't know how to react to some of the things that happened after they left, from the Reapers which she still couldn't believe even when she watched the archive footage. To the recovery/rebuilding of the relay network and the Citadel, even the rise of the Krogan after the Genophage was cured, to the slow repopulation of Rannoch, and finally the Terminus Rebellion or the Terminus War.

Sara walked to Cora's room wanting to hear the blonde woman's opinion on the events described back home in the packet. Entering Cora's room Sara was greeted by the sight of the blonde biotic sitting at her desk with her head in her hands looking dejected based on her posture.

"Everything alright, Harper?" Sara asked walking to Cora and leaning on a frame two feet from Cora.

"I don't know…" Cora said lifting her head from her hands and looking at Sara. Sara could tell right away that Cora had been crying from her red eyes and tear streaks that ran down her face. "Did we do the right thing, Ryder? Leaving our home behind?" she asked.

Sara knew that Cora is referring to the Reaper War based on a paused video on her terminal showing a Reaper tearing through an Asari city. "I honestly don't know," Sara answered honestly. She had asked that question to herself since her father died and the Initiative placed an enormous responsibility on her shoulders. She had confidence in her abilities to lead but to be responsible for finding a home for not just one species but seven made her doubt herself. "Part of me thinks we should have stayed and the other is glad that we got out before the invasion took place."

"I feel the same." Cora said rising from her seat and walking to one of the containment tanks that held flora unique to Eos. "I feel like we betrayed everyone by leaving," Cora said looking at her reflection in the glass. "Do you think they were cursing us for leaving them behind?" she asked looking to Sara's reflection.

"I think some were. Our families that we… left were probably glad that we survived by leaving with the Initiative." Sara said walking over to Cora and placing her hand on Cora's shoulder getting the blonde woman to turn around and face her. "We survived and so did the others back home. We need to honor those that died by surviving and making a home here." Sara told Cora who nodded and wiped her eyes.

"Thanks, Ryder." Cora said with a small smile on her face, "glad to see that giving pep talks runs in the Ryder family." She told Sara who also smiled.

"Dad was always better at giving pep talks," Sara said looking to the containment tank thinking back to her father.

"You think the Initiative knew about the Reapers?" Cora asked drawing Sara from her memories, "they did name the transport ships "Arks" after all."

"The Reapers were the flood," Sara said looking back to Cora who walked back to her desk and leaned against it, placing her hands on the edge of the table. "Makes sense. From what I read Garson was a religious person, so it would make sense that she would name the ships "Arks."" She said getting a nod from Cora. "It would also explain why the launch was pushed up from our original date."

"You know, if I knew about the Reapers I would've –."

"Stayed behind?" Sara said finishing Cora's sentence. Cora nodded and crossed her arms across her chest. The same thought ran through her mind when she read about the attack on earth.

"I hope that my fellow commandos took down plenty of those Reaper bastards." She said while looking at the image of the Reaper.

"If the asari commandos fight like you than I'm sure they took down plenty." Sara said happy that Cora seemed to be feeling better than when she first walked in to check on her. Cora smiled in response to what Sara said. "It's hard to believe that Shepard managed to assemble a fleet of six thousand ships to retake earth."

"Agreed, and now her decedent is leading a fleet that is going to help us survive and make a home here." Cora said pulling her chair out and sitting down at her desk. "Guess being a hero runs in the family." She said.

"Thanks for stopping by, Ryder." She said unpausing the video, allowing the video to play again. "You should talk to Liam. His family is on the casualty list." Sara got the hint and walked to the door to give Cora some peace before they land on Havarl. "Thanks for the talk, Sara." Sara turned around surprised that Cora called her by her first name rather than her last. "If you ever need to talk about this whole "finding a home, Pathfinder" business. I'm happy to return the favor in giving you a pep talk." Cora told Sara who smiled in response.

"As long as we get to have our "chick-flick" moment and hug it out after the conversation." Sara said with a smile before leaving Cora in her room. She heard Cora mutter "not in your lifetime" before the doors closed. Smiling to herself Sara walked to the cargo bay and stopped outside of Liam's room. Taking a breath to calm herself before opening the room and entering. Inside she found Liam sitting at his desk cleaning his armor's chest piece, his weapon already taken apart and ready to be cleaned. Sara saw the casualty list from the Reaper War displayed on the terminal with his family's name highlighted.

"Hey Liam," Sara said walking over to Liam just as he set the chest piece down and turned his chair around to face her. Sara could see that he'd been crying just like Cora.

"Hey, Ryder. Come to check on me?" Liam asked.

"Yeah. How are you?" Sara asked getting another stool from the corner of the room and sitting next to Liam.

"I just found out that everything back home was almost destroyed." Liam said, his voice gradually getting louder. "And that my entire family is dead!" Shouting the last past Liam rose from his seat quickly knocking it over. "I knew that they would be gone while I was asleep. But to find out that they were killed when the Reapers invaded earth." Liam said while pacing the length of the room moving his arms in frustration. "It pisses me off!" He shouted kicking the wall in frustration.

"Hey!" Sara yelled rising from her seat and grabbed Liam by his shoulder anchoring him in place. "Talk to me, don't destroy the room when we have a punching bag set up in the cargo hold." She told him getting him to scowl at her.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes." Liam said pushing her hands off his shoulders and walking to the table that held his armors chest piece. "Is this why the Initiative pushed the launch date up? I never got to properly say goodbye to my family." Liam said the last part almost in a whisper that Sara almost didn't catch what he said, placing his hands on the table Liam leaned on it.

"I imagine that the Reapers were the reason why the launch date was pushed up." Sara told Liam who remained silent. "I also didn't get to say goodbye to some of my friends," Sara said getting Liam to look at her. "I was so excited, nervous, and also scared of leaving everything that I know behind."

"That you forgot to say goodbye to your friends and family in person." Liam said with his head down.

Sara put a hand on his shoulder getting him to look at her and giving her a view of his face which she saw fresh tears trailing down his face. "I'm sure your family is glad that you survived by leaving with the Initiative." She said to Liam which prompted him to hug her, this took her by surprise but she recovered by returning the hug. "This way the Kosta line doesn't go extinct with you here." Sara said getting Liam to chuckle.

"Thanks for being here, Ryder." Liam said letting her go and wiping the tears away. "I just need some time to think this through. Don't worry I'll be ready to go the next time you need me." Liam told Sara before sitting on the couch in his workspace and opening up his omni-tool. Taking the hint Sara left Liam to his thoughts and just before the door to his workspace closed she heard the sound of a woman's voice saying his name. Deciding to visit with her other crew members to see how they are handling the news of the Reapers and everything else that happened back home.

Unsurprising most of the crew had the same reactions as Cora or Liam, the only ones not affected were Drack and Jaal. In Jaal's case it was more confusion as to why the Initiative left rather than stay and fight against the Reaper, Sara had to explain to him that the existence of the Reapers was kept a secret from Initiative personal when the plan was conceived. Jaal pointed out the leaders of the Initiative are cowards for choosing to flee rather than staying and fighting with their people. Sara once again had to explain to him that not everyone can fight and some would choose to flee and survive rather than fight and possible die. After Jaal came Drack and he seemed to indifferent to the news which Sara found odd but soon found out that Drack didn't bother reading about the Reapers, choosing instead to read about the krogan and how they fared over the years.

After checking in with her crew Sara was informed by SAM that they will be exiting FTL over Havarl soon. Sara calls for Cora and Jaal to get their gear ready as they are going to be joining her groundside in searching for and helping the missing scientists.

* * *

 **The Normandy – Marcus**

The journey to Havarl didn't take long only being an hour long since the Normandy left the Nexus to join Ryder on Havarl. The Normandy exited FTL above the planet and the ship began its descent towards the planet, as they passed the upper atmosphere they were contacted by the Tempest.

" _Normandy, this is the Tempest there is a landing zone not far from our location that the Angara use to bring in supplies. Uploading coordinates,"_ a female said with a Scottish accent. _"Admiral Shepard, Pathfinder Ryder is groundside. She'll meet you at the science outpost."_

"Copy," Chloe said while guiding the Normandy to the coordinates. "Sexy voice," she said to herself.

"Maybe you can ask for her number," Sasha said behind Chloe causing her to turn in her seat and smile at Sasha. "Maybe I will." Chloe said already imagining the body that the sexy voice belongs to.

"As long as it's on your own time. don't need you distracted and crash the ship," Marcus said causing the pilot to smile even wider as she focused back on the controls.

"Not to worry, the Normandy will always be my main girl. Right, Ava?" Chloe asked Ava who appeared on the display next to her.

"I play for the other team," Ava said causing Marcus and Sasha to laugh.

"Take a look out the window," Chloe said after Marcus and Sasha finished laughing which they did. The three inside the cockpit saw flying creatures that resembled centipedes only with less legs flying in groups as the Normandy passed by the.

"That's new," Sasha said looking at them in amazement.

"Approaching the LZ," Chloe informed them.

"Sasha inform Eli to get his gear, you two are going with me." Marcus told Sasha who nodded and left to find Eli while Marcus went to his room to get his gear on. After getting his gear own he went to the cargo bay to the armory where Sasha and Eli are in the process of getting their weapons from Vlad who stood behind the Kinetic barrier that prevents people from reaching in and taking any weapons.

"Boss, got your weapons set and ready to go." Vlad said in a slight Russian accent when Marcus went to the window to receive his weapons. Marcus picked up his modified N8 assault rifle Ares, his shotgun and his pistol, collapsing them before placing them in their respective holders, the magnetic clamps holding his weapons in place. After thanking Vlad, Marcus heard the landing gear and soon felt the ship jostle as it landed, gesturing for his team to follow Marcus went to the door controls and pressed the open button.

Marcus and his team were greeted by three Angaran solider who informed him that they'll be taking a shuttle to the science outpost where Sara and her team are. Boarding the shuttle Marcus asked one of the Angaran for a map and any information on the area where Sara is currently operating. _"Ryder is trying to contact you, patching her in."_ Ava said while Marcus and his team examined the map of the area.

" _Admiral Shepard, Suvi told me that you're planet side."_

"That's right, we're on route to the science outpost near your location." Marcus told Sara.

" _Copy. You should know that we've encountered survivors from the Natanus."_

"The Turian Ark?" Marcus asked wondering if the Turian Ark crash landed on the planet.

" _Yes, the survivors have been fighting the Kett. I'll let you know more once you get to the outpost."_

"Alright, we'll be arriving at the outpost in ten minutes." Marcus told Sara ending the conversation between the two.

* * *

 **Sara**

Sara finished marking the final debris sites from the escape pods from the turian ark after her conversation with Marcus. She was honestly surprised that the Normandy made it to Havarl in record time but considering that the Normandy is loaded with the latest tech from the Milky Way that made theirs look pale in comparison.

"Avitus, I finished marking the debris sites for pick up." Sara told Avitus, the turian in charge of protecting the survivors who crash landed on Havarl. Avitus also happens to be second in command to the turian Pathfinder but he doesn't know where he or the turian ark is.

" _Thank you, Ryder. At least now we don't have to worry about the Kett getting ahold of them."_ Avitus said over the comms.

"True. I'm headed back to the science outpost. Remember that help I told you about." Sara asked Avitus.

" _The Admiral? Right?"_

"Yeah, he and his team are at the science outpost." Sara told him over the comms, "I'm headed there now." She said before gesturing for her team to follow.

" _Alright, I've already contacted the Nexus and they'll be sending shuttles to evac us in two hours."_ Avitus told her which lightened her stress load.

"Copy, see you back at the Nexus." Sara said while trying not to trip on the uneven terrain as are her teammates. Finally, they made it to science outpost in time to see a shuttle take off, walking into the outpost Sara saw Shepard and his team conversing with Anagaran soldier about the terrain and the location of Kett forces.

"Admiral, it's good to see you." Sara said getting Shepard's attention who walked over to her and shook her hand.

"When we're out in the field just call me Shepard." Shepard told her letting her hand go, "Makes things easier."

Sara looked at his armor, his armor seemed far more advanced than hers or anyone in the Initiative really, a logo is painted on his armor on the upper left portion of his chest piece N8 Sara read the logo, and his left arm has the signature red and white stripe running down his arm like the N7's.

"So, you found survivors from the turian ark?" Shepard asked her.

"Yeah, they crash landed here three days ago it seems." Sara told him, "they've been defending themselves ever since."

"Do they have any idea where the turian ark is?" Shepard asked.

"No, Avitus. The turian in charge has no idea where the ark is. He and the others woke up in their stasis pods already on the planet." Sara gave him a brief rundown on everything that Avitus told her. "They managed to get in contact with the Nexus. They're sending shuttles to get the survivors off the planet and back to the Nexus."

"That's good to hear," Shepard said. "Have you located the missing scientists?"

"No, we were in the process of searching when we heard the distress call from the survivors of the Natanus." Sara told Shepard, "the angaran have given us the location of the area where they were last seen. We can head there now."

"Alright, lead the way." Shepard told her gesturing for her to lead on.

"We also ran into Roakar along the way. So be on the lookout," Sara advised Shepard and his team as they left the outpost, putting on her helmet before grabbing her weapon from her back. Sara honestly didn't know why Cora didn't wear a helmet except for when the situation calls for it, and Jaal never wears a helmet claiming that it obstructs his vision. The sound of clicking drew her attention turning around she saw Shepard's armor has a collapsible helmet as it emerged from his armor and formed around his entire head, the eye sockets glowed blue. Sara also noticed that Shepard's teammates also had collapsible helmets built into their armor which made her and Cora jealous.

Refocusing on the task of finding the missing scientists Sara led the way to the area they were last seen, stepping over a log when gun fire rained down on her and Shepard's team. "Take cover!" Shepard shouted as he and Sara took cover behind a boulder, "shooters in the tree line." Shepard told everyone in the group who started to return fire, Sara took aim and fired feeling the kick of the rifle against her shoulder. Hearing the sound of a louder gunshot caused her to look at Shepard whose weapon seemed more powerful than hers at the rounds pierced the trees hitting the targets on the other side. Soon the gunfire died down.

"Cover me," Shepard told Sara who nodded and relayed the order to her teammates. Soon everyone aimed at the tree line looking for any signs as Shepard got out of cover and slowly walked to the tree line. Shepard lowered his weapon and gave the all clear, Sara walked over to the tree line and saw Angaran bodies wearing blue armor with orange highlights.

"Roakar," Jaal said kneeling down next to one of the bodies and said something in Angaran that sounded like a prayer. "We should move. Others will be here to claim the bodies." Jaal said once he finished his prayer and rose to his feet, Sara agreed and once again took the lead.

"This is the last known location of the scientists." Sara said once they arrived at the location, looking around Sara didn't find anything that could help in locating the missing scientists.

"Spread out." Shepard told his team, "find something. Call out." Sara told her team the same thing before she followed Shepard in searching for clues.

"I have a question if you don't mind," Sara asked stepping over a pile of rocks.

"Now?" Shepard asked kneeling down to examine something as Sara provided cover.

"If you don't mind," Sara said keeping an eye for movements in the surrounding area.

"Shoot."

"Are you related to Commander Jane Shepard?" Sara asked the question that has been on her mind ever since SAM told her about Commander Shepard.

"She's my great, great, great grandmother." Shepard said sounding slightly annoyed but Sara couldn't figure out why.

"Just wanted to know, thanks for answering." Sara thanked him.

" _Sasha here. I found a trail leading to some sort of cave."_ Sara heard Sasha say over the comms.

"Copy, we're headed to you." Shepard said getting off his knees and back to his feet, "let's go." He said gesturing for Sara to follow him which she did wondering why he seemed annoyed when she asked him if he's related to Commander Shepard. _'I'll ask about it later,'_ Sara thought to herself as she followed Shepard to Sasha's location. Arriving at Sasha's location the others arrive just as she and Shepard did.

"Tracks lead to the cave," Sasha said pointing to the cave directly in front of them.

"Alright, let's hope the missing scientists are in there." Shepard said looking to Sara who nodded before gesturing for others to follow as he led the way to the cave. Approaching the cave Sara noticed mushroom like vegetation growing out of the ground on the side of the cave entrance glowing light blue and secreting clear liquid, Cora seemed intrigued given her hobby of collecting flowers from different planets and approached the plant reaching out to touch it when Jaal grabbed her hand stopping her.

"Don't the liquid will eat through your suit and enter your blood. Causing hallucinations and eventually you cough up blood dying painfully as your organs liquefy." Jaal explained to Cora who immediately pulled her hand back and backed away from the plant.

"Thanks," She to Jaal thanking him for preventing her from dying a painful death.

"It would be difficult to drag your body back to the outpost." Jaal replied walking past Cora who shook her head at his response. Sara and Shepard waited at the opening of the cave for Cora and Jaal to catch up before they went in, when the both of them arrived the group entered the cave. Entering the cave, the group found that part of the cave walls isn't natural as the rocky formation transitioned into smooth metal walls.

"Looks like Remnet tech," Sara said as the group entered the remnet cave. "Keep an eye out, Remnet structures always has security drones." She warned Shepard just in time as an energy beam impacted with her shields, once again taking cover behind the pillars.

Taking a look, she sees six drones, three large bipedal ones slowly walking towards the group and three smaller airborne ones flying towards them. "My team will handle the smaller one." Sara told Shepard.

"We'll handle the larger ones."

"Take down their shields or circle around them." Sara advised him before telling her team to focus on the smaller drones. Leaning out of cover she aimed at one of the smaller drones and opened fire, the drone moved quickly out of the way causing Sara to miss as she readjusted her aim and fired again this time scoring a hit on the drone but not enough to down it. Taking aim again she fired again only for her weapon to overheat, getting back into cover Sara ejected the heat sink and put in another from the pouch on her waist and leaned back out to take another shot this downing the drone. Looking to her teammates she saw they also downed the other drones, turning to Shepard she saw his team also finished dispatching the larger drones.

Sara walked over to Shepard's team, "your team ok?" she asked when she approached them.

"Yeah, the drones weren't that tough." Shepard said getting Sara to frown knowing that the large drones that are a hassle for her team is not 'tough' for Shepard and his team. "Let's press on and find those missing scientists."

Sara agreed and the group moved forward making sure to keep an out for any more Remnet drones, thankfully they didn't run into any more drones and they finally made it to a large cavern with a center platform. The cavern appeared to once be a large room but is now smaller thanks to the cave in, on the center platform the group found the missing Angaran scientists frozen in place. A blue field surround the scientists that seemed to originate from the central platform that had a Remnet terminal in the center of the platform.

"How do we get them of whatever this is?" Shepard asked as the group approached the frozen scientists.

"The central terminal might have something to do with it." Cora said as she and Sara approached the terminal. Sara put her hand over the terminal and the terminal activated as small pillars raised out of the terminal in response to Sara, as she moved her fingers the pillars moved as well.

"It no good, we're missing a piece of the glyph." Sara told the group as she moved her hand away from the terminal.

"Like the monoliths on Eos?" Cora asked remembering when Sara had climbed the support towers surrounding the monolith to scan the glyphs.

"Exactly, good news is we only need to find one." Sara told Cora.

"Since when can you interface with Remnet tech?" Shepard asked coming over to them.

"Since SAM first interfaced with Vault on Habitat 7." Sara replied going over what she and SAM learned while Cora and Jaal searched the room for the missing glyph hoping that the glyph isn't buried underneath the cave in.

"Found it," Cora shouted getting Sara's attention. Walking over to where Cora is at she found the glyph on the side of a column, after scanning it Sara went back to the terminal and reactivated it this time shutting off the field that surrounded the scientists.

"- what we know…" one of the Angaran said before he noticed Sara and the others. "Who are you!?" he shouted backing away from them as did the other scientists.

"We're not here to hurt you," Shepard told them.

"The human is telling the truth." Jaal told the scientists who calmed down once they saw Jaal.

"Jaal? What are you doing here?" The lead scientist asked.

"You and the others have been missing for five days." Jaal told them which shocked them.

"That's not possible," the scientist said shocked. "We just came to this cave yesterday."

"What happened then?" Sara asked curious as to how they ended up being frozen.

"We approached the terminal which seemed to activate it." The scientist explained, "I went to take notes and the next you're standing in front of me."

"Seemed like you tripped a security function when you approached the terminal." Shepard said getting the Angaran scientists attention, "which could also explain why the security drones were active."

"Security drones?"

"We'll explain on the way back to the outpost." Sara told them wanting to get back to the outpost to figure out their next move to finding the Vault and also wanting to resupply. So the group left the cave with the scientists in the middle of the group for protection, they arrived back at the outpost without being attacked by the Roakar, Kett, or the local wildlife. Once back at the outpost the scientists went inside to report their findings while Sara went to the supply drop point that the Tempest dropped near the outpost to resupply.

"Ryder, the scientists want to see us."

Sara turned around to Shepard before he headed back into the building, after stocking up Sara walked back to the building and entered. Inside she saw the lead scientist from the group they rescued along with the head scientist in charge of the outpost and Shepard waiting for her.

"Ryder, thank you for rescuing my people." The head scientist thanked her to which she responded with a smile.

"What is it that you wanted to discuss?" Sara asked curious as is Shepard.

"No doubt you felt the tremors by now?" The head scientist asked to which Sara nodded, she felt the tremor when the Tempest landed as did everyone. "Our scans estimate that the tremors will continue to grow until they reach the strength of the same one that decimated Havarl 600 years ago.

"We believe that the Vault will stabilize the tremors and allow the planet to heal properly, along with repairing the ecosystem." The lead scientist from the group added in and now Sara knew why they wanted to talk to her.

"We need you to find and activate the Vault. To save Havarl from destruction."

"We need three monoliths to activate the path to the Vault and we only saw two coming in." Sara said already throwing a wrench into their plan.

"We know. The third monolith disappeared 600 years ago." The head scientist said before gesturing for the other to come to the large table set up in the middle of the room, pressing a switch the table came to life displaying the three monoliths, then the image changed to show only two monoliths. "We haven't been able to find the third monolith but we can guess as to where it is."

"Do the monoliths emit a signal of some kind?" Shepard asked getting everyone to look at him.

" _Yes, the monoliths emit a low type of frequency that is hard to track even with the advanced sensors on the Tempest."_ SAM said

"Send the data to me. I'll forward it the Normandy." Shepard suggested which Sara gave SAM the go ahead to send the data to Shepard. Shepard stepped away from the group and came back a short time later, "Ava found a match." Shepard said before pressing some buttons on his gauntlet and a map formed in front of Sara and the scientists of the surrounding area, two red dots appeared showing the location of the two monoliths before a third red dot appeared not far from where the Natanus survivors set up their camp.

"The signal is coming from underground."

"I know that area." The head scientist spoke up typing some commands on the table and the map changed to show the chasm that Sara knows when she first went to help the Natanus survivors. The image of a large Remnet door appeared next to the map, "I studied this door wondering how to open it and where it leads to. Before the Roakar showed up."

"I believe that this door leads to the third monolith."

"Ok, we now know the location of the third monolith." Sara said placing her hands on the table, "but how do we open the door?" she asked the obvious question in the room.

"Hmm… you should speak to the Sages." The lead scientist suggested.

"Where can I find the Sages?" Sara asked hoping that she didn't need to do anything crazy to reach the Sages.

"They are a group that guard the knowledge of Havarl's past."

"More like they withhold information. Instead of sharing it." The head scientist said getting Sara to look at him.

"They may share what they know with you." The lead scientist suggested.

"I'll have to find them first." Sara told the scientists reminding them that they still haven't told her where to find the Sages.

"Right, they are on top of Mithrava." The lead scientist told Sara gesturing for her to follow before he went to one of the windows and pointed to the large tower in the distance that had Sara wondering why they wouldn't just fly to the top. "There is a field that surrounds the tower. It disrupts electronics, making flying to the top dangerous. Many have died trying." The scientist told her almost as if he's reading her mind.

"Ok, so we enter from the ground and climb our way to the top. Got it," Sara said walking back to her team when her comms came to life.

" _Ryder, we're under attack by the Roakar. They found us."_ Sara heard Avitus say while the sounds of gunfire could be heard in the background.

"Head to Mithrava Ryder. We'll help the survivors." Shepard told her before heading out with his team quickly to help the survivors, Sara sent the coordinates the survivors made their camp to Shepard before turning to her team.

"Alright, let's go climb a tower."

* * *

 **Marcus**

Marcus and his team left the outpost quickly and on the way out he received the coordinates on the survivor's location. "Avitus, this is Admiral Shepard. We're on route to your location." Marcus told Avitus over the comms.

" _Shepard? Hurry we have casualties and wounded,"_ Marcus heard the sound of an explosion followed by more gunfire. _"The Roakar are making a push."_

Marcus and his team picked up the pace when they ran into Roakar guarding the path to the survivors. Quickly getting spotted by the Roakar, Marcus and his team opened fire on the Roakar soldiers. Their weapons quickly taking down their shields and killing them, finally the sounds of gunfire grew closer as they neared the survivor's location. _"Avitus, we'll hit them from the rear."_ Marcus told Avitus over the comms.

" _Copy, we'll try to push them back to you and meet in the middle."_

"Got it," Marcus replied before ordering his team to open fire on the Roakar forces catching them off guard as they weren't expecting to be attacked from behind. Slowly pushing their way forward as their weapons far outclassed the Roakar, finally the group made it the entrance of the camp where only a few Roakar remained hiding in cover from Avitus' men and Marcus' team. Getting into cover behind a fallen tree, Marcus peeked out to see Avitus.

"Avitus, hold fire. Let's see if we can get them to surrender." He suggested.

" _Alright, it's worth a shot."_

"It's over, throw out your weapons and come out slowly!" Marcus shouted.

"Don't listen to the human. We can still win this," the Roakar in charge told his men.

"Don't be stupid. Your outnumbered and surrounded, give up!" Marcus shouted once again seeing Avitus' move his men to get a better angle on the Roakar when suddenly the Roakar emerged from their cover shooting.

"Kill the invaders!" the leader shouted rallying his men in a last ditch attempt to kill them only for Avitus and his men to kill them instead. Marcus emerged from cover along with his team slowly walking to bodies of the dead Roakar soldiers as did Avitus. After checking the bodies Marcus went to Avitus who looked at the body bags.

"How many?" Marcus asked standing next to Avitus.

"Twenty," Avitus told him still looking at the body bags. "It would have been worse if you haven't shown up." Avitus turned to Marcus and extended his hand, "Avitus Rix, former Spectre, second in command to the Turian Pathfinder."

"Admiral Marcus Shepard, Alliance Navy, N8 operative and Capitan of the Normandy, in charge of the relief fleet." Marcus introduced himself while shaking Avitus' hand.

"Ryder was telling the truth when she said help had arrived." Avitus said releasing Marcus' hand.

"We just arrived." Marcus told Avitus when the sound of engines caused them to aim their weapons at the source of the sound to see shuttles appear over the trees.

"Hold your fire! They're with the Initiative," Avitus told his men getting them to lower their weapons as the shuttles landed and Initiative security emerged from them and set up a perimeter around the camp.

"Dead and wounded get loaded first," Avitus told the Initiative personal who immediately got to work getting the wounded into the shuttle and the dead.

" _Shepard, we're back on the ground and headed to you."_ Sara voice came over the comms as Shepard ejected the heat sink from his rifle and inserted another one.

"Copy, Initiative shuttle have arrived and are in the process of loading up the survivors." Marcus told her. Marcus decided to talk to Avitus and ask him about where he thinks the turian ark could be, they're in the middle of a discussion about the security of the Nexus and the threat of the Kett when Sara and her team showed up.

"Ryder, good to see you again." Avitus said nodding his head at her which she returned. "What happened?" Marcus gave her a brief overview of the fight with the Roakar when the last turian save for Avitus boarded the second to last shuttle and left.

"See you both on the Nexus," Avitus told both Marcus and Ryder before he left to board the last shuttle. Soon all of the shuttles left the planet leaving Marcus and Ryder behind.

"Did the Sages tell you anything?" Marcus asked. Sara relied everything that the Sages told her about the locked door and how to open it.

"You should get the gauntlet from the Remnet ruins." Marcus suggested, "after all you can interface with Remnet tech."

"You'll go after Taavos then?" Sara asked.

"Yup, divide and conquer." Marcus said to which Sara nodded in approval.

"Alright, we'll get the gauntlet and meet you when you have Taavos," Sara said before she activated her omni-tool and sent a photo of Taavos to Marcus before she left with her team to the Remnet ruins. Marcus went to the bridge leading to the Roakar leading to the Roakar camp intent on finding Taavos.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry to everyone for the wait and thank you all for being patient with me. I know that I haven't delivered when it came to the schedule I set for myself, the reason why is because I ended up writing multiple chapters fast and going back and reading before posting them I realized that the writing wasn't up to my standards. So I made the executive decision to delate what I'd written and start over but then my muse slapped me in the face and ran away.**

 **Luckily she came back and we worked together to get this chapter out. I should also say that I'm a firm believer of "quality over quantity" meaning that from here on out I'll be posting chapters when I can, when I finish them and when I feel that they are up to my standards.**

 **I won't be bullied into rushing out more chapters that are below my standards because it wouldn't be fair for the readers to read something this rushed than something that takes time and fleshed out. Also I will be working on other stories because l have so many ideas that I want to write out and post, this does not mean that I'll be abandoning this story. I repeat I WONT BE ABANDONING THIS STORY, this is after all my first story.**

 **With that being said thank you all for supporting this story.**

 **See you in the next chapter.**


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